Speaker Biographies

Speakers

Anthony Whelan

Director, Electronic Communications, Networks and Services , European Commission

Anthony Whelan is a barrister. He has been a lecturer in public law at Trinity College Dublin, followed by a number of years as legal secretary in the chambers of an Advocate General at the European Court of Justice. He was subsequently a member of the Legal Service of the European Commission. He was head of the cabinet (private office) of EU Commissioner Neelie Kroes when she was commissioner for competition, and later when she became commissioner for the Digital Agenda. Now Anthony Whelan is the Director for Electronic Communications Networks & Services.

Gunnar Hökmark

MEP, European Parliament

Gunnar Hökmark is a Swedish Member of the European Parliament since 2004. He is the leader of the Swedish delegation to the EPP Group. Prior to his role in European politics, he was Secretary General of Sweden’s Moderate Party from 1991-2000.

Mr. Hökmark is an active member of the ITRE Committee dealing with industry, research and science, telecom and energy. In the last mandate he was the EP rapporteur on the Radio Spectrum Policy Programme. Mr. Hökmark is also a member of the ECON Committee of the European Parliament dealing with economic policy, public finances and competition legislation, and is currently the Parliament's rapporteur on banking structural reform

Heleen Uijt de Haag

Deputy Director, Telecom Market, Ministry of Economic Affairs (The Netherlands)

Heleen Uijt de Haag (1972) is deputy director Telecommunications Market of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs. She is responsible for telecommunications policy and regulation and is working on a broad range of national and European policy issues concerning the digital economy. Heleen studied European law at the University of Amsterdam. She was economic policy advisor at the Prime Minister’s office and political advisor to the Minister of Economic Affairs. Until she started her current position in 2013 she was part of the management team of the European Affairs Directorate of the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

François Rancy

Director, Radiocommunications Bureau, ITU

Mr. Rancy was elected by the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in 2010 to the post of Director of the Radiocommunication Bureau (BR) of the International Telecommunication Union.

As Director, Mr. Rancy is responsible for the management of the Radiocommunication Bureau which organises and co-ordinates the work of the Radiocommunication Sector whose aim is to ensure the rational, equitable, efficient and economical use of the radio-frequency spectrum and the geostationary satellite orbit.

Previous to taking up his duties at the ITU in January, 2011, he was Director General of the French Agence nationale des fréquences. Since 1995, Mr. Rancy has served as the head or deputy head for national delegations at many ITU conferences and meetings.

Mr. Rancy graduated from Ecole Polytechnique in 1977 and from Ecole nationale supérieure des télécommunications in 1979.

Alexander Kühn

Chairman, WRC-15 Conference Preparatory Group, CEPT

After a state exam of law at the University of Osnabrück, Mr Kühn has been working since 1998 in the area of legal internship (e.g. at Regional Court) of the Federal Network Agency Germany; changing to national and international spectrum regulation on different levels in 2005. Nowadays he is the deputy head of section for international affairs and utilization concepts. His responsibilities cover strategic frequency utilization concepts and the transposition of those to the international level of CEPT, EU and ITU. Doing this and having been active in the preparation of three WRC’s, on national and on CEPT CPG level, Mr Kühn participated in a number of international Groups, also as Head of the German Delegation. He has also chaired several groups and subgroups in the ITU and CEPT. Since 2005 he is responsible for the German preparation of the WRC’s and served as CEPT CPG Vice-Chairman from 2010 to 2013. Mr Kühn has been appointed Chairman of CPG in June 2013.

Hector Bude

Chairman, WG for WRC-15 , CITEL

Hector Bude De Leon studied Electronics at Domingo Savio, a Salesian Institute in Montevideo and Engineering in the University of the Republic (UDELAR).

He has developed his work in the field of administration and management of the radio spectrum since 1991 when he joined the National Communications Authority (DNC), which in 2001 became the actual Communications Regulatory Agency (URSEC) of Uruguay.

For nearly two decades he was the Head of Radio Frequencies and today he is the Head of the Frequency Management Department and also is one the members of the Management Committee of URSEC.

Within the PCC.II of CITEL (Inter American Telecommunication Commission) he has been y several positions, including Vice-Chairman for the period 2010-2013 and Vice-Chairman of the Working Group for the Preparation for the Regional and World Radiocommunication Conference for the period 2008-2011.

Today he is the Vice-Chairman of PCC.II for the period 2014-2018 and the Chairman of the Working Group for the 2015 World Radiocommunication Conference.

Andreas Geiss

Head of Unit for Spectrum Policy, European Commission

Andreas Geiss is currently Head of Unit for Radio Spectrum Policy in DG INFSO of the European Commission. His responsibilities include the implementation of the inventory in accordance with the Radio Spectrum Policy Programme.

Andreas has been working for the European Commission since 2002. He started his professional career in 1991 at the German Regulatory Authority in the area of telecommunications. From 1994 until 2002 he worked for the European Radiocommunications Office (ERO), where he was project leader for many projects dealing with terrestrial and satellite mobile communications. He has been involved in the European preparations for World Radiocommunications Conferences since 1995. Andreas is a telecommunications engineer by profession and enjoys all sorts of sports in his spare time.

Philip Marnick

Chair, RSPG

Philip is Group Director, Spectrum at Ofcom, where he is responsible for setting and implementing the strategy for managing spectrum including clearing, awarding, licensing, monitoring and enforcement.

Philip is also Chairman of the EU’s Radio Spectrum Policy Group (RSPG) bringing together all the EU’s national spectrum authorities and the Commission.

Philip has over 30 years’ experience within the wireless communications industry. He has held senior executive positions covering technology, operations and strategy in both. Philip has worked in both start-up (from initial concept to sale) and large corporates in companies ranging from UK Broadband, O2, Orange, BT, J-Phone in Japan (now Softbank Mobile), Extreme Mobile and SpinVox (now Nuance).

Luisa Mendes

Rapporteur, Long Term Strategy for the UHF-Band, RSPG

Luisa Mendes is Director of the Spectrum Management Department at the Portuguese Regulator - ANACOM, and is active in various European spectrum committees and currently being the Portuguese representative to both the Radio Spectrum Committee (RSC) and to the Radio Spectrum Policy Group (RSPG), where has been Rapporteur of the RSPG Working Group on the future of the UHF band.

Luísa is also the President of the Portuguese Committee of URSI – International Union of Radio Science.

Eric Fournier

Chairman of Electronic Communications Committee, CEPT

Graduated from Ecole Supérieure d’Electricité (SUPELEC) in 1991, Eric Fournier is currently Director for Spectrum Planning and International Affairs in the Agence Nationale des Fréquences (ANFR), the French public agency in charge of spectrum management. In his position, he is directly responsible for preparing the revisions of the French national table of allocation and for the coordination of French positions in international meetings on spectrum within ITU, CEPT and EU. He was Chairman of the CEPT Conference Preparatory Group for the World Radiocommunications Conference 2012 (CPG-12) and, as French representative in RSPG, has chaired several RSPG working groups dealing with EU interests in international meetings and cross-border issues.

Chris Woolford

Director, International Affairs, Ofcom

Chris Woolford is Ofcom’s Director of International Spectrum Policy where his responsibilities cover the UK’s international spectrum interests, especially in relation to the ITU, CEPT and EU. He is a member of Ofcom’s Spectrum Executive Team and Strategy Steering Group.

Chris is active in various European spectrum committees and currently represents the UK on the Radio Spectrum Policy Group (RSPG). He has closely engaged for the UK on a number of key European initiatives, including the development of the Radio Spectrum Policy Programme. Chris led the UK delegation to WRC-12 and is overseeing UK preparations for WRC-15.

Before joining Ofcom, Chris worked in various UK Government Departments, including 6 years at Oftel, where he worked on different aspects of telecommunications regulation. Chris has a degree in mathematics and statistics from Manchester University.

Ylva Mälarstig

Head of Spectrum Analysis , PTS

Head of the Spectrum Analysis Section at PTS, which is in charge of the future use of radio spectrum in Sweden. She was leading the work of developing Sweden’s long term Spectrum Strategy and is responsible for implementing the strategy, with the aim to maximize the socio-economic benefit of radio spectrum in Sweden. Ylva is also the Spectrum draft leader at The Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (Berec), and active in the RSPG.

Bashir Gwandu

Chairman, Commonwealth ITU Group

Dr. Bashir Gwandu: The Chairman of Commonwealth ITU Group (CIG), was the Executive Commissioner (Technical Services) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), was also the Chairman of Radiocommunications Advisory Group of the ITU (the RAG), and the Vice Chairman of ITU-R Joint Task Group 4567 (JTG-4567). Gwandu has served as the Vice-Chair of Committee 4 of the ITU Radiocommunications Assembly 2012 (RA-12). He became the Chairman of the CIG in March 2012. He was the Acting CEO of the Nigerian Telecoms Regulatory body, the NCC, from June to July 2010. After receiving his BSc in Physics from UsmanDanfodiyo University, Sokoto and an MSc in Applied Physics from the University of Jos, in addition to a brief Engineering service at the Tactical Air-command, Makurdi and lecturing at UsmanDanfodiyo University, Sokoto, he proceeded to the United Kingdom where he attended MSc Courses in Power Electronics and Drives and MSc courses in Communications Engineering; he further obtained an MPhil degree in Electrical/Electronic Engineering, all from the University of Birmingham. He returned briefly to Usman Danfodiyo University, Sokoto to lecture before going back to the UK to study for a PhD in Electronic/Electrical Engineering at Aston University and subsequently undertook an MBA Finance course at the Birmingham Business School.

Dr Gwandu has designed many devices that are used in the telecom industry some of which have been patented in Europe and United States. He is a Chartered Electrical Engineer, and a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering Technology (IET) in the UK, and has published over 40 Electronic and Electrical Engineering Research papers in world-class Electrical Engineering journals and conference proceedings. Since 2002, Dr Bashir Gwandu has been involved in research work on Regulation of Utilities.

Dr Gwandu was the Executive Commissioner for Engineering and Technical Standards at the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC); supervised all Directors/Staff concerned with National Spectrum planning, monitoring, and management, Quality of Service Monitoring and Network Optimization, Equipment Conformance Assessment and Interoperability testing -Type-approval, Numbering Plan, Allocation and Management. He was the Executive Commissioner in Charge of Licensing and Consumer Affairs of the NCC until June 2007. At Licensing, Gwandu supervised the Interconnect rate determination of Sept 2006 that led to improved competition thereby leading to significant reduction in telecom Tariff in Nigeria, the re-classification of Sales and Installation Licenses to Class-Category which has encouraged SMEs entry into the market, the issuance of all the 17 Unified- and hundreds of other Licenses in Nigeria that led to increased competition, the Liberalization of International Gateway for GSM operators that allows for carrying of 3rd Party Traffic thereby reducing tariff for International Calls, the elongation of Access Validity period beyond 90days for all networks on execution of every Revenue Generating Event which has cut down consumer loses and inconveniences, the introduction of Anti- Mobile Phone Theft Scheme in Nigeria to curtail phone theft, the introduction of Tariff Comparison Platform for Consumers so as to aid choice, the abolishing charges to Customer Care Lines, the Limiting of waiting times for answer on Customer Care Lines, the Management of Consumer Parliament, and Management of the Nigerian Internet Exchange project for the ICT Industry, the Improvement of Credit Control system of the NCC to ensure prompt payment of statutory fees by operators, the first ever in-depth NCC investigation into the State of the Quality of Service (QoS) of the Nigerian Telecom Networks. He also led the development of the first ever NCC QoS Regulation, and many other regulatory frameworks of the NCC. He was involved in NCC-based training of personnel from other partner regulatory bodies in different aspects of telecom regulation. Gwandu was part of a number of Nigerian Presidential/Ministerial think-tank committees including Vision-20-2020, Nigerian ICT RoadMap, Panel on University Research funding, and the Launch Committee of the recently Launched Nigerian Communications Satellite (NigComsat-1). He represented Nigeria, and sometimes ATU, at the ITU Conferences (such as WRC, WTSA, WSIS, and WTDC) and their preparatory meetings, he is a regular invited speaker at many International Telecom and Telecom Investment Conferences, and has represented Nigeria in many Forums on Telecoms Regulations, and was until recently on the Board of the NigComSat Ltd, and the Board of Digital Bridge Institute. Gwandu having skills in diverse areas of Engineering, Accounting, Finance, the Art of Regulation and Administration; the key competences required of a utility regulator, was on the Board of NCC

Internationally, Gwandu provided leadership and spoke for the African team on Agenda Item 1.4 of ITU WRC-2007, which was the turning point for Africa on ITU WRC matters. He also led the successful pursuit of the Allocation of 700MHz band to Region 1 during WRC 2012, played a major leadership role in delivering the African goals during the Johannesburg WTSA-08 and Dubai 2012 amongst many other achievements.

Tess Mulhall

Head of Defence Spectrum, UK Ministry of Defence

Tessa Mulhall is the Head of UK MOD Spectrum . She has been in the UK Civil Service for 29 years joining the MOD in 1997 after terms in both the Home Office and the Department of Employment. Her earlier career in the MOD saw her in software development and support, moving to management Electromagnetic Environmental Effects in 2004, going on to head up the organisation in 2006.

She is responsible for many policy and standards to support the Electromagnetic Environment enabling safe and coherent operations of spectrum dependant equipment. She is responsible for MOD external engagement on spectrum with regards to international engagement with the WRC, NATO and MOD coalition partners, to ensure that MOD needs and requirements are met or protected. Since 2010 she has lead the MOD to release 210MHz of Public Sector Spectrum for private sector usage and is now exploring further way in which MOD can inject innovation into more effective ways to share and manage public sector spectrum whilst delivering to the MOD spectrum dependant capabilities that are a force multiplier.

Stephen Pentland

Head of Spectrum Policy, Vodafone Group

Stephen Pentland is Head of Spectrum Policy at Vodafone Group, and is responsible for coordinating Vodafone’s access to spectrum across its 27 markets worldwide. This includes defining long-term spectrum objectives, influencing national and regional regulatory policies and licensing programmes, securing new spectrum and seeking extensions and refarming of existing licences. Stephen studied engineering at Cambridge, worked for several years in the Japanese tech sector, and has 20 years experience as a strategy consultant working internationally across the telecom and media industry.

Soren Sorensen

Associate Director, NERA Economic Consulting

Dr Soren Sorensen is a NERA Senior Consultant with more than 10 years’ consulting experience, primarily focusing on auctions. Soren’s work spans spectrum auctions in more than 30 countries, and includes auction design and implementation for regulators as well as advice on bidding strategies for mobile operators. Soren has extensive experience with advising mobile operators in combinatorial clock auctions (CCA), but has also advised bidders on simultaneous multiple round auctions (SMRA), clock auctions, sealed bid auctions and various hybrid auction formats. Alongside his work on spectrum auctions, Soren has advised clients on auction design in diverse markets such as natural gas, electricity, terrestrial TV broadcasting licences, airport slots, water abstractions rights and rough diamonds. Soren holds a PhD in economics from the University of Aarhus, Denmark, where he specialized in microeconomics, game theory and auction design. Soren has published part of his PhD thesis in Economics Letters and is a frequent speaker at conferences.

Paul Mitchell

Senior Director, Technology Policy, Microsoft

Mr. Mitchell assumed his current role in July 2011. He is responsible for policy initiatives in the areas of spectrum, telecomm, and Internet governance. He has championed Microsoft’s efforts to advance flexible spectrum regulations allowing for dynamic sharing, and developing innovative access networks leveraging television white spaces around the world.

Prior to his current position Mr. Mitchell held a variety of senior positions with Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices Division. His career also includes significant work related to digital and interactive television including work developing standards for digital television in advance of the U.S. DTV transition. He held several roles in the Microsoft TV division including Chief of Staff and General Manager of the Tools and Applications Product Unit.

Mitchell serves on the ITU/UNESCO Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development, on the board of the United States Telecommunications Training Institute, and on the advisory board for the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Washington. He has previously served on the board of directors of BET.com, the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions, and Vision TV and SVOX in Canada.

He holds an MPA from the Evans School at the University of Washington.

Peter Pitsch

Associate General Counsel and Executive Director of Communications Policy, Intel Corporation

Peter Pitsch is the Executive Director of Communications Policy and Associate General Counsel for Intel Corporation. He is responsible for coordination of Intel’s global telecommunications policies.

Prior to joining Intel, Pitsch was the president of Pitsch Communications from 1989 to 1998 which represented telecommunications clients before the FCC and Congress.

Pitsch was the Chief of Staff to the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission from 1987 to 1989 and Chief of FCC’s Office of Plans and Policy from 1981 to 1987.

He was a senior attorney at Montgomery Ward, Inc. from 1979 to 1981. Prior to that, he worked for three years as an attorney at the Federal Trade Commission including as attorney-advisor to FTC Commissioner Calvin Collier.

Mr. Pitsch received a B.A. in Economics from the University of Chicago in 1973 and his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1976. He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar, the Virginia State Bar, and the Federal Communications Bar Association.

Branimir Stantchev

Head of Sector, Wireless Broadband, DG CONNECT, European Commission

Position
Head of Sector 'Wireless Broadband' at the Spectrum Unit of DG CONNECT, European Commission, Brussels

Responsibilities
EU level spectrum policy development and implementation for wireless broadband and towards 5G, including the UHF band strategy, spectrum harmonisation, relation with research policies and convergence.

Past
Branimir has been working for the European Commission since 2008. He regularly represents the Commission services on spectrum topics at CEPT and ITU level. He started his professional career in 1995 at the Vodafone Chair for Mobile Communications Systems at the Dresden University, Germany. From 2000 until 2008 he worked with the companies Philips, Qimonda and Signalion in Germany in the area of wireless equipment design, manufacturing and marketing. Branimir has a PhD degree in mobile communications from the Dresden University.

Alan March

Head of Spectrum Affairs, UK Strategic Collaborations Division, Seinnheiser

Alan March was born in 1963 in England. He has over 25 years of experience in the Pro Audio industry and during that time has worked in sales, marketing, applications engineering and business development roles. Alan sits on the 'British Entertainment Industry Radio Group' (BEIRG) – Steering Committee and has accumulated experience in dealing with UK spectrum regulator Ofcom in matters relating to the UK ‘digital dividend’ and how this will impact on spectrum availability for the PMSE – Programme Making and Special Events – sector.

Alan is also a member in the APWPT Executive Commitee.

Rob Alderfer

VP Technology Policy, CableLabs

Rob Alderfer is Vice President of Technology Policy at CableLabs, the global research and development consortium of the cable industry. Rob brings sound science to bear in policy decisions by harnessing CableLabs’ technology and innovation expertise. His focus is empowering the industry to address technology policy matters of substantial strategic consequence.

Rob joined CableLabs in 2012 from the Federal Communications Commission, where he guided United States wireless broadband policy as chief data officer of the agency’s wireless bureau. Previously, he shaped communications policy at the White House Office of Management and Budget.

Rob has been engaged in significant policy decisions for over a decade, helping to shape today’s communications technology landscape. He has deep expertise in wireless spectrum, and has facilitated the development of mobile and Wi-Fi technologies and services by bringing new spectrum to market.

Mark Colville

Principal, Analysys Mason

Mark Colville (Principal) is part of Analysys Mason's Regulation practice, and is based in the company's Cambridge office. He joined Analysys Mason in 2003 and has advised a variety of clients, including national regulators, fixed and mobile operators, media players, equipment vendors and investors on a wide range of projects around the world.

Mark's work focuses mainly on radio spectrum and wider regulatory issues across the telecoms and media sectors. Among other topics, he has particular expertise in spectrum valuation and auction support, spectrum policy, and forecasting the future demand for spectrum.

His other areas of expertise include media regulation, with a focus on competition issues in pay-TV markets, content rights issues and TV advertising. Mark's wider regulatory experience includes work on a range of competition issues, such as wholesale pricing, predatory pricing and margin-squeeze analysis, and core and access network cost modelling. Mark has also advised on the pricing of fixed and mobile telephony services and has managed several projects to support operators in the introduction of new tariff plans.

Mark trained as a mathematician and has an MA from the University of Cambridge, as well as a Diploma in Computer Science, also from Cambridge.

Adrian Scrase

CTO, ETSI

Adrian Scrase played a central role in the creation of the “3rd Generation Partnership Project” (3GPP) and is responsible for the operations of the 3GPP Project Co-ordination Group. He heads 3GPPs’ Mobile Competence Centre (MCC) which is an International team of 20 experts who provide comprehensive support to the Project.

He was also principally involved in the formation of the recently created “oneM2M” Partnership Project and oversees ETSI’s support to that initiative.

He is CTO within ETSI with operational responsibility for all of ETSI’s standards production activities. He has more than 30 years experience in the telecommunications field, which includes 25 years of experience in standardization.

Catherine Bohill

Director Spectrum Strategy, Telefonica

As Director of the Spectrum Centre of Excellence in Telefonica, Catherine’s mandate is to seek innovative approaches and best practices for Spectrum optimization and acquisitions. The group she leads is charged with the valuation of spectrum. She looks forward to contributing to and learning from Session 4 on that very topic.

With 22 years of experience in the Telco World, Catherine has spent 15 of those with Telefonica working in M&A, Wholesale and more recently Spectrum. Before joining Telefonica, she worked for DaimlerChrysler in Germany & the World Bank in Washington DC. She also spent a year lecturing in the University of Havana and writing for Timeout. Catherine has a BA in European Business and a Diplom Betriebswirt (FH) from the European Business School (FH Reutlingen) and a Masters in Finance from Instituto de Empresa in Madrid.

Bernard Celli

Strategy Director, ANFR

Since June 2012, Bernard Celli has been Strategy Director of Agence nationale des fréquences, the French agency in charge of spectrum management. He was previously an advisor of the minister in charge of Industry, Energy and Digital Economy.

Bernard Celli began his carrier at Orange in Washington D.C., as a regulatory and policy affairs associate. In December 2002, he joined ARCEP, the Electronic Communications regulator, as head of the Broadcasting and Broadband Services Division. In February 2006, he was appointed deputy director of the Economy division of the CSA, the French Media regulator, where he was in charge of Economy and Competition affairs.

Marc Eschenburg

Partner, Aetha Consulting

Marc Eschenburg is a Partner at Aetha Consulting, a specialist telecommunications strategy consultancy which advises players in the industry on major strategic and regulatory decisions.

For the last years, Marc has been very active in the area of spectrum management, advising operators and regulators on issues such as spectrum valuation, spectrum strategy, auction support and spectrum pricing. His particular area of expertise lies in overseeing the development of spectrum valuation models ahead of auctions and he has supported spectrum managers and bidders in preparations for over 30 award processes across the world.

Malcolm Ross

Principal, Merlin Consulting

Speaker biography to appear shortly...

Gerry Oberst

Senior Vice President, Global Regulatory and Governmental Strategy, SES

Gerry Oberst is responsible for regulatory matters at SES, where his title is Senior Vice President, Global Regulatory and Governmental Strategy. Gerry took this position after a long career as a partner in the Hogan Lovells law firm, in both Washington, DC, and Brussels. During his 30 years of private practice, Gerry advised many clients in the spectrum field as well as governmental agencies, including numerous projects for the European Commission. He is a prolific author and for twenty years wrote the global regulatory column for Via Satellite magazine. While in Brussels, he was the chairman of the European Satellite Action Plan Regulatory Group. He now works in Brussels and Luxembourg, and soon is moving to Washington, DC.

Rüdiger Martin

Project Officer, DG CONNECT, European Commission

After his studies of computer science and mathematics in Germany and the US, Rüdiger Martin worked for several years as a researcher in the area of performance analysis of network technologies, an area in which he also received his PhD. In 2008 he joined the European Commission, Directorate General Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CONNECT) to work as a scientific programme officer on research funding and research policy in his area of expertise. Since beginning of 2015 he continues his professional path in spectrum policy where is working on shared use of spectrum, RLANs, and IoT.

Tim Miller

Partner, Plum Consulting

Tim has over fifteen years of experience in the telecommunications industry. He specialises in the application of economics to regulatory and competition issues, the analysis of markets and company interactions, and looking at future developments in telecommunications markets. Tim’s work has been used in the context of spectrum strategy, regulatory price cap models, top-down and bottom-up cost models for regulatory and business purposes, spectrum awards and bidding behaviour, financial disputes, and demand forecasting. He has advised operators, regulators, government and industry bodies across the world on the potential uses of spectrum and resulting benefits, how to determine the optimal use of spectrum, and regulatory road maps for achieving this.

Luis Lucatero

Strategic Advisor, Finpro

Luis Lucatero is a strategic advisor to "Connectivity from Finland", an initiative by Finland that focuses on root-cause induction of connectivity growth. Luis Lucatero is the former chief of regulatory policy of the Federal Institute of Communications in Mexico. Luis is one of the designers of the Mexican Telecommunications Reform that has transformed the Mexican telecommunications market. Prior to his work in Public Policy, Luis worked in telecommunications infrastructure marketing, business development and international negotiations within Alcatel-Lucent in Paris, France. Luis is a semiconductor physicist educated in Japan and France.

Bharat Bhatia

Regional Director, APME, Government Affairs, Motorola Solutions

Mr. Bharat Bhatia has over 40 years of experience in Public Protection and Disaster Relief (PPDR), spectrum management and ICT policies & regulations.
Currently he heads the Motorola Solutions’ Government Affairs and Public Policy activities for the Asia Pacific Region. Prior to this, he was a senior regulator with Government of India for 22 years as a spectrum regulator and Telecom policy specialist. He was also actively involved in formulation and implementation of India’s National spectrum plans and ICT policies. He regularly attends and speaks at various Global conferences and meetings and has been actively participating in various ITU and Asia Pacific telecommunity (APT) meetings including all World Radio Conferences during the last 15 years.

Mr. Bhatia was the key originator of ITU World Radio Conference Resolution (WRC) 646 on PPDR in 2003 and 2015. He was also the key originator of the WRC Agenda under which Resolution 646 on PPDR was successfully revised to include 700 and 800 MHz bands at the WRC-15 He has made presentations on the issue of PPDR at numerous global and regional conferences around the world during last 15 years. He was also asked by the ITU-D to help develop the emergency communications plan for Samoa.

Mr. Bhatia is an expert on spectrum management and works closely with many Asian governments particularly in the area of spectrum and regulations for Public safety and mobile telecommunications (IMT). He chairs the APT Task Group on Public Safety and Disaster Relief communications as well as the ITU WP5D group on broadband public safety spectrum

He is also the founder President of the Core Group of Telecom Industries Association of India (CTIA) and Vice-President of ITU-APT Foundation of India. Earlier he was also the President of TEMA (Telecom Equipment Manufacturers Association of India) and a Vice President of Association of Telecom Industries of Singapore (ATIS) earlier.

Mr. Bharat Bhatia holds a B. E. degree from University of Delhi in Electronics and Telecommunications and is a fellow member of IETE, the Institution of Electronics & Telecommunications Engineers. Mr. Bhatia has completed a number of management courses from various institutes and universities including National University of Singapore and George Washington University.

Fabio Leite

Global Spectrum Policy, ESOA

Mr. Fabio Leite holds a Master’s degree of Applied Science in Electrical Engineering with specialization in Telecommunications (1980).
In his professional life, he has held different positions in the radiocommunications field in both public and private sectors in Brazil, in the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) - the United Nations agency responsible for Information and Communications Technology (ICT), as well as in the global ICT industry.
Mr. Leite worked for EMBRATEL, the Brazilian long-distance telecommunication carrier, where he was responsible for the system engineering of BRAZILSAT, the first Brazilian domestic satellite system, successfully launched in 1985.
Since 1980, he participated in many ITU radiocommunication conferences and meetings as member of national delegations, responsible for technical and regulatory is¬sues. In 1986, he was has elected Vice Chairman of the ITU Radiocommunication Study Group responsible for satellite services.
His career in the ITU started in 1987 where he held several functions, such as Radiocommunication Engineer in the Space Services Depart¬ment of the Radiocommunication Bureau (BR), Counsellor for mobile and fixed services in the Study Group Department of BR and Project Manager of ITU’s third generation mobile communications project, namely International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 (IMT-2000) in the Office of the Secretary-General. As of 2005, Mr. Leite held the positions of Chief of the Informatics, Administration and Publications Department and of Deputy-Director of BR.
Mr. Leite was Senior Advisor to Rohde & Schwarz from 2014 to 2015.
On May 2015, Mr. Leite joined Inmarsat where he is responsible for regulatory and market access matters.

Inge Hansen

Director of Regulation & Spectrum, EE

Since joining EE in 2011, Inge has been responsible for the liberalisation of EE’s 1800 MHz licence for 4G allowing EE to launch 4G as a market leader in 2012. She led EE’s bid strategy in the 2013 auction of 800MHz/2.6GHz frequencies. Following a secondment as lead for EE’s successful bid for the Emergency Services network in 2014-15, Inge now leads the regulatory team for the EE line of business within BT.

Amit Nagpal

Partner, Aetha Consulting

Amit Nagpal is a Partner at, and one of the co-founders of, Aetha Consulting. Amit has over 20 years of experience on spectrum management issues having started his career with the Radiocommunications Agency (now part of Ofcom) in the UK. Amit advises regulators/government bodies, fixed and mobile operators, broadcasters, financial institutions and industry associations on a wide range of issues including spectrum policy development and spectrum valuation and auction support. Amit’s experience includes leading studies for the European Commission on the introduction of spectrum trading and a harmonised approach to the digital dividend. Amit has undertaken projects for clients in Europe, Middle East and Africa, Asia and North America and is therefore able to bring a global perspective to his work. He recently supported a mobile operator in Colombia with its preparations for the AWS
spectrum auction.

John Higgins

Director General, DIGITALEUROPE

John Higgins CBE was appointed Director General of DIGITALEUROPE, the association for the digital technology industry in Europe, in November 2011 following nine years leading its UK member association, Intellect.

After graduating from the University of East Anglia with an honours degree in Mathematics and then gaining a post graduate Diploma in Accounting and Finance, John began a career in IT. He trained as a systems analyst, held senior positions with Ernst & Young and worked in Chicago with leading software company SSA. In 1995 he was appointed CEO of the Rocket Networks, a California based dot.com that provided the world’s first online recording studios. He returned to the UK in 1998 and became Director General of the Computing Services and Software Association, one of Intellect’s predecessors.

John is a member of the governing body of the University of Warwick and recent chair of its audit committee. John is President of the European Commission’s Strategic Policy Forum on Digital Entrepreneurship and was recently elected to the Board of the European Internet Foundation. John’s other recent committee chair roles include the cross industry association council of the CBI, a government/industry space committee and the global policy action committee of the World IT Services Association, WITSA. He was board member of e-skills, the UK’s digital sector skills council and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He was presented with two personal awards for outstanding contributions; first to the association sector in 2004 and then to the IT industry in 2008. The Queen appointed him a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 2005 for his services to the UK IT industry

Laszlo Toth

Senior Director, Policy, Government & Regulatory Affairs, GSMA Europe

Laszlo Toth is the Head of Office of GSMA Europe, which is the European arm of the GSM Association – the global body that represents the worldwide mobile communications industry. In this capacity Laszlo is responsible for the day-to-day running of the GSMA's Brussels office. He works closely with members to facilitate coordinated advocacy efforts at the EU level in order to create a policy environment that maximizes the mobile industry’s ability to invest in infrastructure and drive economic growth.
Laszlo started his professional career working at telecoms operators. Prior to joining GSMA in 2011, he spent nine years at the Hungarian public administration, including spells at the Ministry responsible for ICT and at the national telecoms regulator. Laszlo has an MSc. in economics and holds a degree in computer sciences.

Lasse Wieweg

Chair, Spectrum Group, GSA

Lasse Wieweg, Director, Government and industry relations, at Ericsson, has worked with telecommunications topics his whole professional career, starting in 1973 with Ericsson. In 1986, following some over-seas assignments, he took up a position at the Frequency Management department within the Swedish Telecommunications Authority. In 1994, he took up a new position within the Swedish Defence Material Administration, looking after Frequency Management for the Swedish Defence Forces. Since 1997, Lasse is back in Ericsson, particularly addressing international policies in the Radio Regulatory and Spectrum domains within the Ericsson Group Function in Stockholm, Sweden.

Ruprecht Niepold

Independent Spectrum Expert, Independent Spectrum Expert

Ruprecht Niepold is an independent spectrum expert. He holds a Degree in Electrical Engineering from the Technical University of Karlsruhe and a PhD from the University of Stuttgart. From 1977 he worked at the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft in applied research for industry in the field of industrial automation before joining the European Commission in 1989 where he became responsible for relations with Japan and South East Asia in the field of telecommunications policy. As of 1997 he led the unit dealing mobile and satellite communications regulatory aspects. Between 2003 and 2008 he headed the unit in charge radio spectrum policy from an EU perspective. As of May 2008 he advised the Director General of DG CONNECT (Directorate General for Communication Networks, Content and Technology, European Commission) on radio spectrum policy issues.

He was also engaged in an EU/ASEAN cooperation programme on radio spectrum policy and management. He retired from the Commission in February 2014.

Davood Molkdar

Director, Spectrum and Wireless, InterConnect Communications

Davood has over 27 years’ experience in telecommunication and spectrum management gained through working for the University of Leeds (UK), GEC, NTL, Motorola, Arqiva and InterConnect Communications where has worked on projects predominantly involving various aspects of wireless and spectrum management including engineering, policy, licensing, regulatory and training.

Davood has a thorough understanding of various wireless technologies including Mobile cellular, WLAN, M2M, broadcast, Public safety, and space broadband technologies. He is very familiar with spectrum matters related to these technologies as well as the overarching spectrum management, engineering, policy and regulatory issues across spectrum products defined by ITU.

Davood has a Ph.D. and a 1st Class Honours degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering and 3 years post-doctoral research (Research Fellow) in digital communications system modelling and simulation.

He is a fellow of IET, holds 13 granted patents and has had over 37 publications.

Håkan L. Andersson

5G Product Strategy, Radio Business Unit, Ericsson

Dr. Håkan Andersson leads the 5G strategy at Ericsson and was previously Director of Technology Strategy. He has a broad international experience and have held various management positions in Singapore, Philippines and the US, including the CTO position within the AT&T account. Håkan was responsible for defining and driving Ericsson's LTE strategy to the product investment decision. He joined Ericsson Research in 1990 and has held various positions in Product Management, Portfolio Management as well as Portfolio Strategies. Håkan has a M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering and a PhD in Physics, both from the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm

Carlota Reyners-Fontana

Deputy Head of Unit, Spectrum Management, European Commission

Carlota Reyners Fontana is deputy Head of the unit dealing with spectrum policies in DG Connect at the European Commission. She mainly deals with regulatory issues linked to spectrum management, including as part of the future Review of the Telecoms framework and the RSPP. Between April 2012 and November 2014, she was Member of cabinet of Vice-President Neelie Kroes, Commissioner responsible for Digital Agenda under the Barroso II Commission, mainly dealing with issues related to the Telecoms Regulatory framework, including the proposal for a Connected continent, spectrum, roaming, national market regulation and broadband policies. She joined the Commission in 2000 in the Competition Directorate General where she dealt with antitrust and cartel investigations in several sectors until 2006. Then, she was on leave from the Commission and worked for about four years as an in-house lawyer of the competition department of a leading European telecommunications company. Before joining the Commission, she was a lawyer in the EU Competition team of a Brussels based law firm. She holds a law degree from Madrid University and a Master in European law from the Université Libre de Bruxelles.

Reza Karimi

Director, Huawei Technologies

Hamid Reza Karimi is Principal Standards Strategist at Huawei Technologies’ Standards and Industry Department, Corporate Strategy. Until recently, he was Technical Policy Director at the UK communications regulator, Ofcom, with responsibilities in a range of spectrum management initiatives, including a review of the UK’s licence exemption framework, the auction of spectrum for 4G mobile communications at 800 MHz/2.6 GHz, and database-assisted access to TV white space spectrum. Previously, he was with Bell Laboratories at Lucent Technologies, and Motorola GSM Products Division. He is the author of over sixty publications in international conferences and peer-reviewed journals, and is co-inventor in over thirty patents. He is also visiting professor at Imperial College, London.

Luigi Ardito

Director, Government Affairs, EMENA, Qualcomm

Luigi Ardito is currently working as Director of government affairs for Europe, Middle East and North Africa at Qualcomm and drive Qualcomm spectrum and regulatory policy agenda in Europe and MENA dealing with various government entities and industry organizations. Prior to joining Qualcomm, Luigi worked for over a decade at Sony Corporation both in Japan and in the UK. Luigi gained also professional experience at France Telecom and at the Italian Public Broadcaster RAI.

Luigi has extensive experience in the Media and Telecom industry as well as the Semiconductor Industry gained through his assignments at Qualcomm, Sony, France Telecom and RAI. He holds an Electronic Engineering Degree gained at the Politecnico di Torino in Italy and a Master of Business Administration gained at the Henley Management College in the UK.

Gerard Pogorel

Professor of Economics and Management-Emeritus, Telecom ParisTech

Gérard Pogorel is Professor of Economics and Management-Emeritus, Telecom ParisTech, France.

Telecom ParisTech is a first-tier European Research and higher education institution. It encompasses all discipline areas, sciences, technologies, social sciences, of relevance to information and telecommunications technologies and the media.

Gerard Pogorel graduated from HEC Paris Graduate School of Management and holds a Doctorate in Economics from Université de Paris Pantheon-Sorbonne..

Gérard POGOREL co-authored in 2014 a report to the Prime Minister of Italy on Broadband for 2020. He chaired the Scientific Committee of the “Spectrum & Innovation” Agence Nationale des Fréquences International Conference held in Paris in June 2013. He was a member of the Organo di Vigilanza, Telecom Italia Open Acess (2008-2012). He acted as co-founder and Chair/Rapporteur of the European Spectrum Management Conferences 2006-2011. He was previously Chair of the European Union Framework Research & Technology Development Programme Monitoring Panel, and Chair of the Monitoring Committee of the EU Information Society and Technologies Research Programme. He participates in numerous Government-level and regulation Authorities Committees and Scientific Committees on telecom and media policy and regulation in Europe, the USA and Asia. He is a member of the international panel of experts for the World Competitiveness Yearbook. Gérard Pogorel is Officier des Palmes Académiques.

He published numerous articles, books, and reports including: “Valuation and pricing of licensed shared access: next generation pricing for next generation spectrum access”, “The digital dividend: radio spectrum, mobile broadband, and the media: Towards a policy framework”, Open Society Institute (2011), “The Radio Spectrum: managing a strategic resource”–with JM Chaduc,, (Wiley-ISTEC London, January 2008), Nine regimes of spectrum management: a 4-step decision guide, Communications & Strategies, April 2007, « Competitive Compliance: streamlining the Regulation process in Telecom and Media», (Communications & Strategies, March 2006), « Digital Terrestrial Television and Digital Convergence: A European Policy Perspective » (with G. Fontaine) in «Towards Digitalisation in Broadcasting: Policy and Practice » Cave M. & Nakamura K, eds, Routledge, 2006, « Towards More Flexible Spectrum Regulation”, WIK-BundesNetzAgentur report (Bonn, 2005, co-author).

Jaume Pujol

Digital Team Manager, Broadcast Networks Europe

Speaker biography to appear here shortly...

Ethan Lavan

Global Spectrum Regulatory Policy, ESOA

Ethan Lavan is Director of Orbital Resources at Eutelsat since 2010. Prior to joining Eutelsat, Lavan was responsible for regulatory policy and management of service and spectrum licences at global level for Inmarsat Global, the UK-based mobile satellite services operator, which he joined in 2002. From 1989 to 2001, he held various responsibilities at Alcatel Space Industries, including regulatory standards coordination for the SkyBridge broadband satellite programme.

Pierre Jean Muller

CEO, Red Techologies

Pierre-Jean Muller (Ms.Eng., MBA) is the founder and CEO of RED Technologies. He founded the company in 2012 following the emergence of new spectrum sharing regulatory schemes. RED Technologies develops and commercializes Self Organizing Networks (SON) solutions for radio network optimization and Dynamic Spectrum Sharing management (EU-LSA, US-SAS). Pierre-Jean is devoted to Research & Development, Regulatory (CEPT) and Standardization (ETSI, 3GPP). Pierre-Jean is regular speaker in spectrum and wireless technology events globally and during his 25 years career in the telecommunications hosted several elected positions in ETSI and 3GPP.

Darko Ratkaj

Senior Project Manager, Technology and Innovation, European Broadcasting Union

Senior Project Manager at the EBU's Department of Technology & Innovation with the focus on the audiovisual media distribution models and the associated market evolution. This includes technical, regulatory, and policy issues as well as spectrum management aspects of both broadcast and broadband platforms.

Special interest in the role that wireless distribution platforms play in making public service media universally available.

Regular contributor to regulatory and standardisation forums and international trade events.

Maintains working relationship with broadcast and telecommunications industries, market analysts, national regulatory authorities, and the European Commission.

Hermann Meyer

CEO, ERTICO

Since 2008, Hermann works at ERTICO – ITS Europe, a Public-Private Partnership initiative with more than 100 leading organisations to develop and deploy Intelligent Transport Systems in Europe. He leads a team of 40 highly qualified professionals in Brussels who are managing cooperation activities of ERTICO Partners in Europe and beyond.

Hermann was the Chair of the Board of Directors of the ITS World Congress in Bordeaux 2015, Co-Chair of the iMobility Forum, member of the Steering Group of ERTRAC and a member of the Coordination Committee of the Network of National ITS Associations. Hermann is regularly called to hearings of the European Parliament and consultations by the European Commission to represent the views of the ERTICO Partnership on Intelligent Transport Systems.

In 2009/2010, he was the Chair of the eCall Implementation Platform of the European Commission.

Prior to joining ERTICO, he represented the interests of the Volkswagen Group in the EU institutions in Brussels as Head of the Government Relations Office. He joined Volkswagen in 1995 serving as Manager in the “Sustainability Strategy” Department and as Head of the “Technology and Science” Department in the Government Relations Offices in Bonn and Berlin.

He was seconded in 1996/1997 to the Principal Policy Department in the German Federal Ministry of Transport and from 2003 to 2006 to the European Car Manufacturing Association (ACEA) as Director of Environmental Policies.

Between 2001 and 2003, he headed the “Vehicle Technologies” Working Group of the “Sustainable Mobility 2030” Initiative of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development presenting the results at the World Economic Forum in Davos 2003.

Hermann holds a PhD in Land Economy from the University of Cambridge (UK) and a Master of Arts in Economics from State University of New York. He is married with three children.

Doriana Guiducci

Head of ICT Policy, Fondazione Ugo Bordoni

Doriana Guiducci is Head of the Competence Centre on ICT Policies at the Fondazione Ugo Bordoni (FUB), a Cultural and Research Institution, which operates under the supervision of the Italian Ministry of Economic Development.

She has a sound experience in spectrum matters and spectrum engineering. She works mainly on policies for the efficient management and use of airwaves. In this area, she provides support to the Italian Administration also within ITU and CEPT. She is an expert in spectrum sharing and coordinates the practices realised in Italy on the shared access to spectrum on a licensed basis.

Over years, she has been involved in many major projects related to the evolution of wireless systems in Europe, such as the migration to digital terrestrial TV and the introduction of LTE in the 800 MHz band. She has also been working for long on the protection of citizens from electromagnetic field exposure.

She holds a master degree in Telecommunications Engineering and a Ph.D. degree in Computer Science and Electronics Engineering. She has been a researcher in the radiocommunication area for over 15 years, joining different National and European programmes. Her main area of interest and research is currently on 5G with reference to technologies and architectures for future wireless systems.

Massimiliano Simoni

Chair of the Frequencies Operator Expert Group, GSMA

Massimiliano Simoni is a network planning manager in TIM, the biggest network operator in Italy. He joined the Telecom Italia Group in 1996 and since then has been working in the spectrum engineering first, and then in the frequency management dept.

In his career he has been dealing with Fixed Service applications, national and cross-border frequency coordinations, Satellite Earth Station filing, coordination, and line-up, Mobile Service frequency management and mobile network cost analysis for TIM, and other companies of the group.

He is a permanent member of the Italian delegation in many international groups of ITU-R and CEPT.

He has been chairing the ETNO Spectrum Group from 2006 to 2014, and he is now chairing the Frequency Operator Expert Group of the GSMA since January 2015.

Massimiliano holds a master degree in Telecommunication Engineering and a bachelor in Business Administration.

Andrew Stirling

Senior Policy Advisor, Dynamic Spectrum Alliance

Andrew is a Senior Policy Advisor in digital communications, strategy and regulation, assisting clients including BBC, BT, Dell, Intel, and Microsoft.

He has engaged with regulators and industry in UK and other parts of Europe, to raise awareness of dynamic spectrum access potential and how to enable it.

In 2011, Andrew formed a 17-company consortium to mount the Cambridge White Spaces Trial, which was the largest of its kind in the world, at the time. He has also encouraged dynamic spectrum initiatives around Europe – working with world class partners.

He is Chair of the Centre for White Space Communications, at the University of Strathclyde, which has developed world-leading expertise in the field of dynamic sharing technology – leading pilots in Scotland (e.g. on the Isle of Bute and in Glasgow) and in Africa.

Andrew also sits on the Advisory Board for the Glasgow Future City Demonstrator project.

William Maunier

Member, Wider Spectrum Group

William Maunier :
Secretary General Audiovisual SNRT -CGT : National Union of Radio, Television and the Audiovisual.
Chairman of EURO-MEI : European Federation of media unions, entertainment and the arts.
Nice Born on 07/07/1955
Studied philosophy in Nice ( France ) from 1976 to 1981.
Emigrated to New Zealand in 1981.
From 1984 to 1987 : Works as chief editor at the New Zealand National Film
( Wellington / New Zealand).
Emigrated to Australia in 1988.
1988-1991 : degree from the Australian Film School of television and radio ( AFTRS ) to Sydney and worked as a freelance in film and broadcasting.
Returned to France in 1991 and has been working for public television France Télévisions as chief editor and then as technical framework.
Invests in parallel unionism.

Blaise Soury-Lavergne

Head of Mobile Spectrum, ARCEP

Blaise Soury-Lavergne is head of the mobile spectrum awards unit at Arcep, the French telecommunication regulator. He is responsible for designing spectrum awards and licensing mobile operators. He conducted the 700 MHz band auction in France on November 2015.
He worked previously at the Directorate General for Enterprise (DGE) where he contributed to the elaboration and implementation of the French broadband rollout plan and at the National Frequency Agency (ANFR) where he represented France at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in the discussions about the access to satellite orbit and spectrum resources.