Global industry body GSMA has appointed Jon Fredrik Baksaas, president and chief executive officer, Telenor Group as its chairman. He will be serving in this capacity until December 2014.

Baksaas has 25 years of industry experience and has been leading the Telenor Group since June 2002. In his new role, he will be responsible for providing strategic leadership to the organisation to initiate programmes and policies which will help drive growth in the telecom industry.

Baksaas’s immediate priority is to extend network coverage worldwide and promote mobile internet usage.