Rajasthan-born Rajendra Singh, 45, was nominated as an outside director bythe board of directors and is expected to be elected by shareholders at thecompany's annual meeting in May.

With a personal net worth of $1.1 billion, Singh was ranked 223 in ForbesMagazine's 1999 list of 400 richest Americans. Born in Kairoo village inRajasthan, Singh is considered to have a gold-finger and has invested inseveral businesses and turned several around.

In announcing his upcoming membership, Boston Communications Group Incemphasised Singh's extensive experience in the wireless industry. He hasserved as chairman and CEO of Telecom Ventures, LLC, (TV), a privateinvestment firm focussed on the wireless communications and informationtechnology (IT) industry since January 1994.

In the US, Singh along with wife Neera is credited for designing cellularantenna grids for the country's first generation cellular telephone systems,according to Forbes Magazine. His early customers include big names intelecommunications like Craig McCaw, head of McCaw International, andAirtouch's Sam Ginn.

Telecom Ventures is the holding company for Singh's family investments, hesaid. He also stressed that he was mainly a ``vision person'' and said hisstrong technology, especially wireless, background - - he is a graduate fromthe Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur -- ``helps me out to discernimportant but less obvious trends. I leave grooming to others.''

Singh lives with Neera, also an IIT graduate, and his two children inAlexandria, Virginia. ``We use TV as a vehicle to make investments but eachbusiness stands on its own.''

``We are thrilled to welcome such a highly regarded industry expert to ourboard of directors,'' said BCGI president and CEO EY Snowden. ``Raj has beena leader in wireless communications technology and will be a tremendousasset as we continue to implement our growth strategies, including theevolution of our micropayment processing platform for mobile commerceinitiatives.''

Singh is a board member of LCC International, Inc, which he co-founded withhis wife, and where he served as president from 1983 until September 1994,and as CEO from January 1994 to January 1995. Singh also serves on the boardof Teligent, Inc, Aether Systems, Inc and XM Satellite Radio Holdings, IncHe received his doctorate degree in electrical engineering from the SouthernMethodist University.

BCGI is the leading provider of prepaid services to wireless carriers inNorth America. Founded in 1988, BCGI provides wireless carriers withresources and support services. BCGI provides one or more of its services tonine of the top 10 wireless carriers in the US, plus more than 80 additionalcarriers.

-- IANS