Company
Industry Associations
The TeleManagement Forum was founded in 1988 as the OSI/Network Management Forum with the goal of accelerating the availability of interoperable network management products. Founding members included AT&T and BT on the service provider side, and suppliers such as Northern Telecom and Hewlett-Packard on the equipment side. By early 1989 it had approved its first OSI/NM Forum Protocol Specification and by 1990 it had 85 members from 13 countries.
The Forum has continued to adapt as the technological and business landscape has developed. Today, the TeleManagement Forum has more than 400 members, runs the industry's leading OSS/BSs Conference and Exposition, and its standards are being adopted by the UN body, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). www.tmforum.org
The GSM Association (GSMA) is a global trade association that exists to promote, protect and enhance the interests of GSM mobile operators throughout the world. At the end of September 2005, it consisted of more than 680 second and third generation mobile operators and more than 160 manufacturers and suppliers. The Association's members provide mobile services to nearly 1.57 billion customers across more than 210 countries and territories around the world. The GSMA aims to accelerate the implementation of collectively identified, commercially prioritized operator requirements and to take leadership in representing the global GSM mobile operator community with one voice on a wide variety of issues nationally, regionally and globally. www.gsmworld.com
ETIS is a membership based organization which brings together the major telecommunications providers in Europe on key information and communication technology issues. The mission of ETIS is to enable its members to improve their business performance by personal exchange of information on using ICT effectively. ETIS achieves this by engaging its members in various working groups, sharing best-practices, benchmarking, web-based information services, discussion forums, EU projects, workshops and conferences. www.etis.org
The GSC Group is a non-profit organization, run by Carriers for Carriers. The Group was formed in early 2003 to meet the growing needs of Carriers from all continents for process improvement, development of best practices standards and guidelines to adapt the evolving commercial agreements, billing and settlement complexities of international wholesale businesses.
Within 5 years, the GSC Group has successfully held 10 global forums. Each Forum has attracted up to 80 participants from over 40 companies worldwide. The Group has also developed best practices process guidelines and deliverables for use by Carrier Members.
GSC Group is currently supported by membership from over 30 companies worldwide, with many of them leading international wholesale Carriers. www.gscgroup.org
