Morristown, NJ – June 26, 2007 – The TM Forum announced today the establishment of a Middle East advisory council aimed at attracting more service providers, technology manufacturers, and systems integrators from the region to TM Forum activities. Target countries include: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Tunisia, the Arab Emirates, and Yemen.

“We are delighted to announce the formation of this important advisory group within the Forum,” said Aileen Smith, chief operating officer of the TM Forum, “The Middle East offers a wealth of communications expertise and leading providers and technologies, and we are publicly backing our commitment to the region with the formation of this new group.”

As part of the creation of this committee, TM Forum has established a working relationship with 3-Tier Solutions, a Dubai-based advisory group with expertise in the region. 3-Tier will help facilitate growth in the Middle East through promotion of TM Forum membership, education and events. TM Forum plans a Middle East Summit during the 1st quarter of 2008, with a view to making this an annual event.

Current TM Forum members from the Middle East include Etisalat (UAE), ITS – Telecom Systems, MTC Touch (Lebanon), MTC Vodafone (Bahrain), and Saudi Telecom.

For more information about becoming involved in the Middle East Advisory Council, contact Nasser Ballout at nballout@tmforum.org

About the TeleManagement Forum
With approximately 600 members in 65 countries, the TeleManagement Forum (TM Forum) is the world’s leading trade association focused on management of telecom, media & information services. The TM Forum provides leadership, strategic guidance and practical solutions to improve the way that services are created, delivered, assured and charged. Members include service providers, network operators, software suppliers, equipment suppliers and systems integrators.

The TM Forum currently facilitates over 80 technical programs and provides extensive training, conferencing and information services to its members. Through its initiatives to help providers move to 21st century ‘lean’ processes, the Forum helps its members automate business processes by deploying operational systems that will work seamlessly across various parts of the service delivery chain. The organization provides industry benchmarks, guidebooks, process and software frameworks and specific ‘plug and play’ standards. These give service providers the direction and specific roadmaps to achieve much greater business efficiency and operational flexibility.

For further information regarding the TM Forum, related programs such as the Prosspero initiative and TM Forum’s Management World conferences, please visit www.tmforum.org  

Media Contact
Juliet Shavit
TM Forum
+1 215 504 4272
jshavit@tmforum.org

Regional Contact
Nasser Ballout
TM Forum – Middle East
+971-(0)50-5510458
nballout@tmforum.org