GSMA chairman Bernabè resigns

Franco Bernabè has resigned from the role of chairman at trade association the GSMA. The news follows Bernabè’s resignation from his role as president and CEO at Telecom Italia, a position he vacated earlier this month at a meeting of the operator’s Board of Directors.

The GSMA said that it will hold an election amongst its Board members and will announce a new chairman in November. In the meantime, president and CEO of Norwegian operator group Telenor, Jon Fredrik Baksaas, who currently holds the positionof deputy chairman of the GSMA, will take on the role of acting chairman effective immediately.

In one of his final speeches as chairman of the GSMA, at the trade body’s Mobile 360 event in Brussels, Bernabè said that deals such as Vodafone’s sale of its Verizon stake and Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia suggest that Europe is no longer a leading region in the telecoms sector.

He stressed that in order to get Europe back in the driving seat of innovation, policy makers and industry stakeholders must work together. He called for a “clear long term vision, coupled with clear, predictable and stable policy decisions”.