The Wireless History Foundation announced four individuals set to be inducted into the Wireless Hall of Fame at an event scheduled for Sept. 9. The inductees were selected by a committee composed of an anonymous panel of Hall of Fame members.
This year’s inductees include Sam Ginn, Jan Uddenfeldt, William (Bill) Carlson and Robert (Rob) Conway. They will join 40 individuals that have already been inducted into the Wireless Hall of Fame, which was began by RCR Wireless News in 1999.
Ginn began his tenure in the telecommunications space in 1988 as head of Pacific Telesis, growing the regional wireless operator into a national carrier through various mergers and acquisitions. PacTel’s wireless business was eventually spun off into AirTouch Communications, which Ginn also headed. AirTouch eventually gained international operations in 14 countries before eventually merging with Vodafone Group in 1999 to form Vodafone AirTouch – with Ginn as Chairman – and eventually merged with Bell Atlantic to form Verizon Wireless. More recently, Ginn was appointed the initial chairman for FirstNet.
Uddenfeldt has been recognized for his work in developing the GSM standard, and later 3G and LTE standards while working at Ericsson. Uddenfeldt began at Ericsson in 1978, holding various executive positions including CTO. Uddenfeldt later served at CTO at Sony Ericsson and remains a senior adviser to both Sony and Ericsson as well as several start-up companies in Silicon Valley.
Carlson has a long history in the telecommunications tower space, having owned and operates Tower Systems since 1975. In 1995, Carlson helped bring together a group of 60 tower contractors to form the National Association of Tower Erectors and was involved with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in establishing a regional and national partnership for site safety audits at cell sites, the handing of cell site decommissioning and training of tower technicians. Carlson also received NATE’s initial Lifetime Service Award, which has been named in his honor.
Conway, who passed away earlier this year, was a key figure at trade association GSMA. Conway joined the organization in 1999, serving as CEO until 2011. During his tenure, the GSMA witnessed rapid expansion in membership and influence across the wireless telecommunications space due to Conway’s work with senior executives and member companies. A number of his accomplishments included the Emerging Market Handset initiative, designed to develop low-cost handsets for emerging markets, which later evolved into the GSMA Mobile for Development program.
The inductees will be officially introduced during the Wireless Hall of Fame Dinner at the Four Seasons Hotel in Las Vegas during the week of the Competitive Carriers Association Annual Convention and CTIA Super Mobility Week events.
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