Alain Maloberti served as chairman of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute standards group ETSI SMG2 from 1985 to 1995 during the vibrant and challenging years that the group established the GSM radio interface, paving the way for the success of the world’s dominant mobile standard.
In the 1980s, individual European countries had a variety of mobile radio systems. Telecom companies and regulators knew the best way forward was to develop a pan European system, but political and commercial tensions among European factions faced those tasked with developing technical standards for new mobile networks.
The radio interface challenges fell to the ETSI SMG2 group. Alain, who represented France Telecom’s research laboratories, served as chairman. Under his leadership, the group navigated the selection of the critical radio aspects of the GSM standard. His task was to lead the work and select between the different proposals tested in the famous Paris trials in 1986 and 1987. It was a technical and political undertaking of tremendous order. The role of the ETSI SMG2 chairman required technical skills of the highest level, and diplomatic skills to manage the personalities and competing technology/commercial interests of the major national representatives to the group. The decisions made under Alain’s leadership provided a firm foundation for the long term success of the GSM standard.
Alain is a highly regarded radio engineer with a long career in telecommunications. He graduated from Ecole Polytechnique (Paris, 1977) and then from Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications (Télécom ParisTech, 1979). He joined France Telecom in 1979, and has been involved since 1983 on studies and development of digital cellular networks. In addition to his role as chairman of the ETSI technical committee, he was Director of the Technical Development of the France Telecom mobile network in France from 1994 to 2003, when he was appointed head of global mobile networks at the group level for the France Telecom/Orange group. In 2012, he became Senior Vice-President at Orange Labs Networks.
Alain was also active in promoting the GSM solution outside of Europe and has contributed to a true global adoption of the standard. For his outstanding personal contribution to standardization bodies, he was named an ETSI Fellow in 2016.