Small Cell Forum Appoints Softbank & Vodafone Representatives as Vice-Chairs

Operator representatives now occupy Chair & Vice-Chair positions

Small Cells MENA, Dubai – 9th October 2012 – The Small Cell Forum, the independent industry and operator association that supports small cell deployment worldwide, today appointed Yoshihito Shimazaki, Softbank’s Deputy Division Director for Mobile Solutions, as its new Vice-Chair for Asia and Dr Alan Law, Vodafone Group’s New Technology Manager, as Vice-Chair for Europe. Following the appointment last month of AT&T’s Gordon Mansfield as Chairman, the Small Cell Forum now has a renewed focus on the demands of operators.

The Chair and new Vice-Chairs will represent the differing needs and challenges facing operators in each of their respective regions to deliver a global view of operator requirements. The Forum also announced that Andy Germano will move from his current role as Vice-Chair to the new position of VP Americas.

Dr Alan Law has been involved in the Forum for five years during which time he has chaired the LTE Special Interest Group, and represented Vodafone Group on the executive board. Yoshihito Shimazaki has also participated in the Forum’s activities for five years and represents Softbank on the executive board.

“Small cells are integral to the future of mobile networks – it is therefore incumbent on the operator community to make every effort to ensure the technology meets our needs and those of our customers. It is for this reason that I am proud to announce Alan and Shimizaki-san as my new Vice-Chairs. With operators installed in the most senior posts in the Small Cell Forum, it is well equipped to ensure that the industry is focused on an open, standard-based approach to the technology. In this way, we can create a vibrant ecosystem where economies of scale will help bring down the costs of mobile networks while also dramatically increasing performance,” said Gordon Mansfield, the Small Cell Forum’s Chairman.

“The small cell market is growing rapidly most notably in the femtocell space where deployments continue to rise. In addition, momentum is building in enterprise and public access small cells. The industry, and especially the Forum, needs to continue to drive open standards to make small cells even easier to deploy. I’m glad to accept this key role in the Forum to help make this a reality,” said Dr Alan Law, the Small Cell Forum’s new Vice-Chair for Europe.

“Small cells are the key to delivering high-speed mobile broadband access for the foreseeable future. Over the past few years, the small cell industry has learnt its lessons from the early femtocell deployments and developed the technologies and techniques for overcoming the old challenges such as interference. As an industry we now need to focus on distilling these advances in open standards while overcoming the practical challenges to deployment, such as working with regulators and governments on issues such as zoning. I’m honoured to accept this role and look forward to helping to drive through these changes,“ said Yoshihito Shimazaki, the Small Cell Forum’s new Vice-Chair for Asia.

The Small Cell Forum supports, promotes and helps drive the wide-scale adoption of small cell technologies to improve coverage, capacity and services delivered by mobile networks. It has in excess of 140 members, including 67 operators representing more than 2.92 billion mobile subscribers – 47 per cent of the global total – as well as telecoms hardware and software vendors, content providers and innovative start-ups.

About The Small Cell Forum
The Small Cell Forum (www.smallcellforum.org), formerly known as the Femto Forum, supports the wide-scale adoption of small cells. Small cells are low-power wireless access points that operate in licensed spectrum, are operator-managed and feature edge-based intelligence. They provide improved cellular coverage, capacity and applications for homes and enterprises as well as metropolitan and rural public spaces. They include technologies variously described as femtocells, picocells, microcells and metrocells. The Forum has in excess of 140 members including 67 operators representing more than 2.92 billion mobile subscribers – 47 per cent of the global total – as well as telecoms hardware and software vendors, content providers and innovative start-ups.
Media Contacts
Small Cell Forum:
Oliver Chapman
[email protected]
+ 44 (0) 7713 404 571