This issue's round-up of Global mobile Suppliers Association news explains how the GSA's programme to promote GSM worldwide is bearing fruit, and GSA president Alan Hadden focuses on how co-ordination with standards bodies is further driving this growth.

Article re-printed with kind permission from GSM Q, October 1999 Issue 15

One of our key activities is to promote the fundamental benefits of GSM in developing markets. We have recently focused on Latin America, taking part in a series of seminars in Brazil and Argentina to discuss the benefits that GSM offers to users, operators and investors in the region. These seminars were held by ETSI (the European Telecommunications Standards Institute) and Mercosur (the Common Market of the South, an economic integration project begun by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay). In parallel, we ran an advertising campaign in Argentina promoting GSM technology, timed to coincide with the PCS license auctions.

In-depth discussions
Developing this further, we took an active part in the PCIA PCS Latin America '99 conference in New Orleans at the end of September. As well as speaking at the conference, we organised a roundtable to enable operators in the Latin American region to hold face-to-face, in-depth discussions with their peers from other regions of the world who have already successfully implemented GSM. We hope that this and similar initiatives will promote understanding of the major issues and opportunities GSM provides, and enable Latin Amrican operators to develop contacts that will be of benefit to them in the future. Longer-term activities for the GSA will include a tour of the region to further promote GSM to key industry figures and influencers.

Another of the GSA's aims is to assist in creating the right environment for GSM's successful migration to third generation (3G) services. We all know that the demand for higher and higher data transmission speeds will continue. Both Internet use and GSM subscriptions have grown at almost parallel exponential rates in the past few years - clear demonstration that user demand is there. This potential can only be unlocked by appropriate applications, driven by cheaper tariffs and higher bandwidth.

In order to tap into this market, operators need to begin to introduce higher data rates and begin the migration towards third generation services. This year has been a pivotal one for this process: we have already witnessed the introduction of HSCSD, and GPRS will follow by the end of 1999. Our activities over the past three months have therefore included presentations at events such as UMTS '99 in June and AIC's Wireless Content Delivery conference, as well as meetings of our own Action-Oriented Project Groups, providing platforms to explain the market potential and the migration process to the widest possible audience. We will continue to spread the word with further presentations at events such as AIC's Global Mobile Carriers and IIR's Migration Strategies to Advanced GSM & UMTS conferences.

GSM 450
The GSA is also supporting the emerging GSM 450 system, a new member of the GSM family that opens up mobile services to more users and provides new business opportunities for operators. GSM 450 will evolve with the core GSM specification and will include seamless roaming with other GSM bands. To support GSM standardisation activities, the GSA is holding a conference for operators in Budapest at the end of September to give an update on standards developments, highlight the business opportunities that the new frequency band offers and demonstrate the world's first GSM 450 phone call.

The activities highlighted above are just a part of our programme to provide reliable, relevant information to everyone investing in the GSM industry. We will be holding our General Assembly in Montreal on 18 October, where the GSA members will meet to plan our programme for the forthcoming year. We also hope to meet many of you at Telecom '99, where we will be located on the GSM area of ETSI's stand (Hall 7, Stand 142). You can find out about all our activities and events at any time by visiting our web site http://www.gsacom.com/. The site has been redesigned to provide even more information for all visitors, as well as to add more value for our members.

Alan Hadden, president GSA

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