First Hop announced today that it has appointed industry veteran Keith Gibson as the company’s new Chairman. Keith’s appointment marks a period of rapid development for First Hop, as mobile operator interest in its business solutions continues to grow.

Keith Gibson, Chairman of First Hop said: “This is a very exciting time to join the Board of First Hop, as it moves into a new phase in its international growth and development. First Hop is proving to be really popular in fast growth markets, such as Asia. We are getting in at the ground level and becoming the focal point of operator business decisions. I look forward to being able to make a significant contribution to the growth of the company around the world.”

Keith Gibson has nearly three decades of experience in the telecommunications industry. He has been instrumental in developing profitable international strategies and leading management teams in Europe and the USA. He began his career at GPT/Marconi Ltd and went on to hold senior management posts at WSI, Fujitsu and Comverse Technology. As EMEA MD at Coherent Communications, Keith grew the business at a rate of 40% per annum. He currently serves on two boards and chairs a public service council.

Timo Laaksonen, Chief Executive Officer at First Hop commented: “As a seasoned industry expert with an impressive track record, Keith brings a level of knowledge and expertise that will help enhance our value even further and drive First Hop’s growth strategy.”

Dennis Atkinson of DFJ ePlanet Ventures, a major investor of First Hop, adds: “We are really delighted to have attracted someone of Keith’s calibre to join as the new Chairman of First Hop. He is an industry leading figure with extensive experience in building, advising and managing successful technology-based companies, as well as planning and executing corporate transactions. The experience he brings will be instrumental in helping the company successfully complete the next stage in its growth”.

First Hop has a strong foothold in Europe and Asia with a client roster that includes tier 1 operators such as Telefonica, Vodafone and T-Mobile. Its business interests now extend across the new growth markets in Asia, the Middle East and South America. They also have strong partnerships with infrastructure vendors, such as HP, IBM and Ericsson. Its mobile VAS business management solutions are creating a level playing field for both operators and content providers in which both can make rational business decisions based on fact and not intuition.

In his spare time Keith has an active interest in motor racing, owning and driving a Formula 3 car. In addition, he has competed in round the world sailing competitions and also plays rugby and golf.

About First Hop
Launched in 1997, First Hop is a complete value added services (VAS) business management solution vendor. First Hop’s mobile VAS solution is an end-to-end service delivery platform (SDP) that manages a mobile operator’sentire VAS infrastructure.

First Hop combines multi-channel traffic management & gateway solutions with automated service provisioning, billing data generation, and business reporting in a single product suite. First Hop Wireless Broker gives the operator the ability to react quickly to market trends and maximise VAS revenue by rapidly implementing new services, new business models, subscription types, or service bundles. First Hop products have been deployed in 60 mobile networks worldwide, such as Vodafone and T-Mobile, serving over 400 million mobile users accessing value added services. For more information on First Hop, please visit www.firsthop.com.