The Small Cell Forum recently appointed two new vice chairs: Yoshihito Shimazaki, Softbank's (News - Alert) deputy division director for Mobile Solutions, is the new vice chair for Asia, while Dr. Alan Law, Vodafone Group's new technology manager, is the new vice chair for Europe. These new additions to the Forum follow last month's appointment of AT&T's (News - Alert) Gordon Mansfield as chairman. Mansfield is assisted by full-time CEO Graham Wright in terms of the day-to-day management of the Forum's activities.

 According to the Small Cell Forum, the recent addition of new members should help provide a "renewed focus" on operator demands. Indeed, the new chair and vice chairs offer differing views of the needs and challenges operators face in each region, resulting in a global outlook of operator requirements.”

Law has been involved with the Forum for five years and has chaired the LTE (News - Alert) Special Interest Group in this time, while representing Vodafone Group on the executive board. Shimazaki, meanwhile, has also been a Forum participant for five years, representing Softbank on the executive board.

"Small cells are integral to the future of mobile networks — it is therefore incumbent on the operator community to make every effort to ensure the technology meets our needs and those of our customers," said Mansfield in a statement. "It is for this reason that I am proud to announce Alan and Shimizaki-san as my new vice chairs. With operators installed in the most senior posts in the Small Cell Forum, it is well equipped to ensure that the industry is focused on an open, standard-based approach to the technology."

The Small Cell Forum supports and promotes the wide-scale adoption of small cell technologies to improve coverage, capacity and services delivered by mobile networks. Recently, Manish Singh, CTO at Radisys Corporation, a provider of embedded wireless infrastructure solutions, was appointed to the Forum's executive board for the second consecutive year.