Press Trust of India
January 19, 2005

New Delhi : Bharti group chairman Sunil Mittal has become the first member from India to join the GSM Association, a global trade association representing the GSM industry, having more than 670 mobile operators serving over 1.2 billion customers worldwide.

"The induction of India's first member on the GSM board recognises the increasing influence of India in the world mobile community. This role will enable me to closely work with leading lights of the mobile industry drawn from across the world. I am confident that this would ensure that India's need for affordable services and deeper penetration gets the attention of the existing GSM fraternity around the world", Mittal said.

The elected members to serve for a two-year term from January 1, 2005 include Craig Ehrlich from Hutchison Mobile, Mauro Sentinelli from TIM, Lu Xiangdong from China Mobile, Lu Jianguo from China Unicom, Jordan Roderick from Cingular Wireless, Takanori Untano from NTT DoCoMo, Frank Boulb en from Orange SA, Frank Esser from SFR, Matthias Schruter from T-Mobil e, and Alan Harper from Vodafone.