Mobile operators deliver ultimatum to GSM Association
By Julian Bright at Roam, Barcelona
12 October 2000
Chief executives from a group of leading mobile operators delivered a dramatic ultimatum to the GSM Association at a special meeting in Montreux this week, it was revealed today.
Giving details of the discussions held during the Association's 44th Plenary meeting in Switzerland, Neil Montefiore, chief executive of Singapore operator Mobile One (M1), told mobile-focused Roam magazine at the UMTS 2000 conference in Barcelona that the operators had effectively given the GSM Association an ultimatum: make changes to your structure and take a lead in a number of issues relating to next generation mobile services within the next year, or risk losing the support of the operator community.
The GSM Association (GSMA) is at a turning point in its history, said Montefiore. The organization is too slow moving, and has become a talking shop for engineers. "The GSMA needs to embrace all wireless operators or it will disappear," he warned.
A number of initiatives covering such vital subjects as WAP and UMTS had already taken place without a united voice for operators. As the representative of the GSM community, and hence 70% of mobile customers worldwide, it is up to the GSM Association to take the lead, argued Montefiore.
He identified three key areas where the GSMA needs to focus its attention - roaming, health issues, and regulation. The GSMA has delivered roaming on GSM networks, Montefiore conceded, but there is still a lot to do. M1 hopes to sign its first GPRS roaming agreement in a week or so.
In the 3G licensing process, believes Montefiore, operators haven't understood what was really happening, and didn't have a lobby. In that respect the customers, who represent at least 50% of the population in most developed cellular markets, also didn't have a voice, said Montefiore.
The industry should have a position, rather than being lead into the auction process by governments and investment bankers, he stated. "What has happened in Europe is a huge mistake and will be very damaging in the short term," he said. "Credit ratings are being downgraded and market capitalizations are falling. The development of the so-called knowledge economy is being taxed."
The industry cannot expect further equity and bond market funding to be transferred from other sectors into telecoms.
But the challenge to the GSM Association is a difficult one, conceded Montefiore. It needs to deconstruct itself, and to become less backward looking. The organization lacks a strong executive structure with focus in key areas, he stated, and the speed of change required is a huge challenge.
Others, such as the UMTS Forum, the WAP Forum and 3GPP, are vying for position, and, like them, the GSM Association started as a means of getting customer input to the standards bodies. If change does not happen, operators might take the initiative themselves, warned Montefiore.
However, if the GSMA can lift its game and change, most operators would back it. "The organization has about a year to make changes or the worst could happen," said Montefiore, pointedly observing that by the time of the October 2001 Plenary, 3G licences will largely have been awarded, the build out of networks started, and even some services launched.
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