MEF elects new EMEA Board

Comfone Executive Vice President, Strategic Development, Gerrit Jan Konijnenberg has been re-elected as Chairman, Mobile Entertainment Forum EMEA

Barcelona / Bern, 18 February 2010 - Representatives from Dolby, du, Mobile Interactive Group, Mira Networks, Sony Pictures and Telefonica were voted onto the MEF EMEA board at the general meeting held during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona earlier this week. Dozens of member companies based in more than 15 different countries gathered at the elections to cast their ballot. The new board subsequently voted to re-elect Gerrit Jan Konijnenberg, Comfone, as Chairman and BBC’s Mark Kortekaas and Qtel’s Colin Yeh as Co-Vice Chairmen.

Prior to the elections, attendees received a sneak preview of MEF’s latest Business Confidence Index, the quarterly membership survey providing a health check on the global $36bn mobile media industry. According to the results, market share in the Middle East and Africa has grown from 4-10% during 2009, largely at the expense of the Northern Hemisphere. While most regions are relatively cautious about revenue growth for 2010, the Middle East and Africa regions are predicting higher than previously expected revenue growth rates for the coming year.

Gerrit Jan Konijnenberg, MEF EMEA Chairman, said: “I am delighted to welcome the new and re-elected representatives to the EMEA board who bring a wealth of insight from across the EMEA region and the mobile value chain. I look forward to us facilitating the next wave of mobile media innovation and information exchange with a particular focus on the Middle East and South Africa. I would also like to thank those stepping down from Sony Music, Telecom Italia and Turkcell for their commitment over the last two years in supporting our strategy for regional outreach.”

Andrew Bud, MEF Global Chairman, commented: “MEF EMEA has achieved some significant milestones in creating local value for MEF’s membership and supporting the creation of an open ecosystem of skilled partners. I have every confidence that MEF EMEA’s skilled board can help accelerate these achievements.”

MEF EMEA Board 2010

Chairman: Gerrit Jan Konijnenberg – EVP Strategic Development, Comfone
Co-Vice Chairman: Mark Kortekaas – FM Controller Audio & Mobile, BBC
Co-Vice Chairman: Colin Yeh – Head of Group Product Development, Qtel Gp

Board Directors:
Jiella Esmat – Director Digital Expansion, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Barry Houlihan – CEO & Founder, Mobile Interactive Group
Jonathan Jowitt – Senior Technical Marketing Manager, Dolby
Emma Kaye – Director, Mira Networks
Javier Lorente – Global Project Manager, Telefonica
Mark Ollila – Director of Publishing, Games & Services, Nokia
Dominique Rougie – TV/Video Director, Next.com/Orange
Raghu Venkataraman – Executive VP, Corporate Strategy & Strategic Marketing, du

Chairman Emeritus & Founder: Gerard Grech - Head of Content, Media and Games, Nokia

About Comfone
Comfone, provider of roaming services to over 300 operators in over 130 countries worldwide, is known throughout the telecoms industry as an international mobile roaming specialist. Comfone's industry know-how owes to over ten years of experience and customer-orientated in-house expertise.
Through its unique portfolio and additional value added services, Comfone fully optimises the setting up of each operator's roaming processes, facilitating the opportunity of reducing overall costs. The portfolio ranges from complete outsourcing of roaming to individual elements, such as signalling, data, convergence, clearing and WLAN services. Comfone's pioneering hub solutions, such as Key2roam and WeRoam, provide mobile operators with worldwide coverage, interconnection and clearing through only one agreement with Comfone and one connection to Comfone's central platform.
Comfone's active participation in the MEF, the GSMA Working groups, the WiMAX Forum and the Wireless Broadband Alliance ensures that its innovative solutions are market-driven. From Comfone's headquarters in Switzerland and regional offices covering Northern and Eastern Europe, Latin America, North America, Central Asia and Asia Pacific, Comfone is well placed to support and meet the requirements of its substantial worldwide customer base.www.comfone.com.

About Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF)
The Mobile Entertainment Forum is the global trade body of the mobile media and entertainment industry. It represents the leading companies throughout the entire mobile entertainment value chain, and works on behalf of its diverse membership to facilitate industry growth, shape regulation and deliver competitive advantage to its members.
With global headquarters in London and operational chapters in Asia, EMEA, LATAM and North America, MEF is a member network with a global reach, strong local representation and the ability to affect market change. Established in 2000, MEF provides a consistent and powerful voice for the foremost mobile media businesses and entrepreneurs. For further information and a full list of members please visit:
www.m-e-f.org or www.m-e-f.blogspot.com