Roberto Viola holds a Doctor degree in Electronic Engineering (Dr. Eng.) and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA). He is Director General of DG CONNECT, in the European Commission.

From 2005 to 2012, he was the Secretary General in charge of managing AGCOM (Italian media and telecom regulator). He was Chairman of the European Radio Spectrum Policy group (RSPG) from 2012 to 2013, and Deputy Chairman in 2011 and Chairman in 2010.

He was member of the BEREC Board (Body of European Telecom Regulators). He was Chairman of the European Regulatory Group (ERG) in 2007.

He served as Director of Regulation Department and Technical Director in AGCOM from 1999 to 2004, in charge of inter alia, regulation in terrestrial, cable and satellite television, frequency planning, access and interconnection of communication services, cost accounting and tariff in telecommunication and broadcasting services.

From 1985-1999 he served in various positions as a staff member of the European Space Agency (ESA) in particular, he has been Head of Telecommunication and Broadcasting Satellite Services.

Andreas Geiss

Head of Spectrum Policy Unit, European Commission

Andreas Geiss is Head of Unit for Spectrum Policy in DG CONNECT of the European Commission. He has been working for the European Commission since 2002 in various positions. His responsibilities included mobile communications, the Radio Spectrum Policy Programme and negotiations with the Member States in different settings. Before joining the European Commission he worked for the European Radiocommunications Office (ERO), where he was project leader for projects dealing with terrestrial and satellite communications and setting up the ECO Frequency Information System (EFIS). He has been involved in the European preparations for World Radiocommunications Conferences since 1995. Andreas has a master's degree in electrical engineering and started his professional career in 1991 at the German Regulatory Authority in the area of telecommunications.

James Cameron

Authority Member, ACMA Australia

James Cameron has over 20 years Australian Government public policy experience, including senior executive roles in the telecommunications, radiocommunications, broadcasting and digital economy fields. James has held executive positions managing government policies and programs supporting Australia’s arts and sports sectors and, immediately prior to joining the ACMA, was Chief Executive Officer of the National Water Commission.

James has also represented government agencies in parliament, in the media, at conferences and internationally.

Philippe Aubineau

Counsellor, Radiocommunication Bureau (BR), ITU

Mr. Philippe Aubineau is Counsellor at the Radiocommunication Bureau (BR) of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). He is responsible since June 2006 for ITU-R Study Group 1 on Spectrum Management and the Conference Preparatory Meeting for the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC). Previous to taking up his current duties, he worked as radiocommunication engineer at the France Telecom research center where he was in charge of international frequency planning, coordination and registration for satellite networks. He then joined the Space Services Department of the BR. Since 1995, he participated with increasing level of responsibility in all the WRCs which review and revise the Radio Regulations – the international treaty governing the use of the radio frequency spectrum and the satellite orbit. Philippe Aubineau graduated from the University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis.

Alexander Kühn

Chairman, CPG-19, 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, 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 national preparation of the WRC’s and served as CPG Vice-Chairman from 2010 to 2013 and as CPG chairman from 2013 to 2015.
Mr Kühn has been appointed as Chairman of the CEPT CPG in March 2016.

Jayne Stancavage

Global Executive Director of Communications Policy, Intel

Jayne Stancavage is the Executive Director of Communications Policy for Intel Corporation. In this role, she leads Intel’s communication policy efforts globally, which includes regional and national levels worldwide as well as the International Telecommunications Union/World Radiocommunication Conferences.

Jayne joined Intel in 2000, focusing on communications policy. She has previously led Intel’s spectrum policy efforts supporting Wi-Fi and WiMAX technologies. In addition to her policy work, she has also worked within Intel business units where she coordinated Intel’s internal efforts to embed Wi-Fi capabilities into notebook platforms. Jayne served multiple terms on the Wi-Fi Alliance Board of Directors.

Jayne currently chairs the Terrestrial Services group (IWG-2) within the FCC’s WRC-19 Advisory Committee. She has also been a voting member of the IEEE 802.18 Radio Regulations Technical Advisory Group, the Wi-Fi Alliance Regulatory Committee and Chair of the WiMAX Forum Regulatory Working Group.

Jayne received both her bachelor's and master's degrees in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Jakob Blaavand

Director of Mathematics, Smith Institute

Dr Jakob Blaavand joined the Smith Institute in 2015, having completed his DPhil in differential and algebraic geometry at the University of Oxford, and taught mathematics to undergraduates at the University of Oxford and at Aarhus University, Denmark, for a total of 7 years.
Dr Blaavand works in the field of spectrum auction design and verification, offering independent advice, verification and testing of auction rules, algorithms and software in auctions worldwide. He has recently concluded a major verification project for the US 600MHz Broadcast Incentive Auction, being responsible for the design of a comprehensive test plan and the verification of all optimisations aspects for the reverse auction, the repackaging and the forward auction.
The list of recent clients Dr Blaavand has consulted for include the Federal Communications Commission, GSMA, the Danish Energy Authority, SciSys, Mondelez International, National Grid, and Sellafield, working on projects ranging from optimising frequency assignments to balancing electricity networks.
Dr Blaavand has given over 30 public lectures popularising mathematics, on topics including knot theory and the maths of Google. He has several publications in international mathematical journals and, most recently, an article on spectrum management in the Colorado Technology Law Journal.

James Bono

Vice President, Economists Incorporated

James W. Bono is an expert on game theory, industrial organization, and econometrics and machine learning. His major practice area is spectrum auctions, where he has provided strategic advice in dozens of high-stakes auctions worldwide. Dr. Bono designs and implements strategies to secure for his clients the best possible portfolios at the lowest prices, providing them a lasting strategic advantage in the marketplace over their competitors.
In addition to his auction work, Dr. Bono has provided critical analysis in high profile antitrust matters and continues to conduct cutting-edge research that applies game theory and artificial intelligence to problems in collective bargaining, aviation policy, and cyber security. He has given invited lectures at top conferences, universities, and private firms. Dr. Bono has also published numerous peer-reviewed articles in journals such as Review of Behavioral Economics, Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research, and Managerial and Decisions Economics and is the author of an open-source Python package for game theory research called PyNFG.
Prior to joining Economists Incorporated, Dr. Bono was an Assistant Professor at American University, where he taught advanced microeconomics for Ph.D. and Master’s students. In his four years at American, Dr. Bono was a Co-Principal Investigator on three successful external grant proposals. He also consulted for NASA on a range of game theoretical projects, including designing auctions for allocating the National Airspace among airlines, managing flight rerouting negotiations, and predicting airline technology adoption decisions.
Dr. Bono earned a Ph.D. degree in economics from the University of California, Irvine and a B.A. in international studies with a mathematics minor from American University.

Mark Gibson

Chief Regulatory Officer, Wireless Innovation Forum

With almost 35 years of spectrum management experience, Mark is responsible for developing domestic and international business opportunities for Comsearch. In addition to leading Comsearch’s technical and business development efforts numerous wireless and spectrum-related products and services, he has led efforts to address spectrum sharing between Federal government and commercial users. He leads CommScope’s CBRS efforts on the Spectrum Access System/Environmental Sensing Capability. He is on the board of the Wireless Innovation Forum and is a co-chair of the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee, where he has also co-chaired working groups related to spectrum sharing and data exchange issues. He has led Comsearch’s spectrum management efforts including the development of spectrum sharing analysis protocols and sharing criteria, as well as development of Comsearch’s engineering services and software products. He has led Comsearch’s efforts in working with the American Hospital Association as their technical partner for WMTS frequency coordination. He has authored several papers on spectrum sharing and relocation and has advised numerous wireless participants in their system design. He is a Senior Member of IEEE.

Luigi Ardito

Senior Director of Government Affairs, 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.

William Webb

CEO, Webb Search

William is a highly experienced strategist, technologist and Board member. His experience spans industry, Government and academia and roles include CTO, CSO, CEO, Board Chairman, consultant and advisor. He has worked for companies from start-ups he co-founded to Motorola and now acts as a trusted advisor, strategist and change-agent for CEOs, senior Government members and others.

His skills lie in bringing about change and innovation in areas where technology and strategy intertwine and where influencing both individuals and wider audiences is important. This has included devising and implementing new strategies for managing the UK’s radio spectrum, bring Europe’s largest Engineering Institution into the 21st Century, forming a standards body and bringing a range of key industry players onto the Board and advising Secretaries of State and University Vice Chancellors.

Widely renown as one of the most intelligent and capable individuals in the communications arena, he gained the top first class honours degree from the top University in Electronics in the UK. He was one of the youngest Fellows ever elected to the Royal Academy of Engineering, the youngest President of the IET for a century and has been awarded two honorary doctorates and three visiting Professorships and in 2018 the IET's highest medal - the Mountbatten Award.

He has huge commercial experience, starting with an MBA, advising the CEO of Motorola, being part of the Senior Management Team at Ofcom, starting a Cambridge-based high-tech company subsequently sold to Huawei for $25m, and forming and acting as CEO of a standards body. At the IET he was the President where he chaired the Board of Trustees.

He has built a successful portfolio career which includes part-time CEO of two organisations, member of multiple advisory boards and prestige consulting services. He is available for consultancy and longer-term positions.

Soren Sorensen

Associate Director, NERA Economic Consulting

Dr. Soren Tang Sorensen
Associate Director
Dr. Soren Tang Sorensen is an Associate Director at NERA with more than 15 years’ experience in advising clients on auction design and bidding strategy in auctions, based in London. He has extensive experience with spectrum auctions, having advised clients on spectrum auctions in more than 40 countries in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and North America. Dr. Sorensen helps his clients with auction design and implementation and provides advice on bidding strategies for mobile network operators. He frequently provides on-site strategy support during live auctions, and he has experience with all common auction formats for spectrum auctions, including Combinatorial Clock Auction (CCA); Combinatorial Multiple Round Auction (CMRA); Simultaneous Multiple Round Auction (SMRA); Clock Auction (CA); First/Second Price Sealed Bid Auction (FPSB/SPSB); and various hybrid auction formats.
Dr. Sorensen has developed software for complex optimisation problems. He has developed integer programming algorithms that have been adapted to winner and price determination problems for more than 20 combinatorial auctions; he has implemented satisfiability algorithms to analyze the spectrum re-packaging problem in the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC’s) Incentive Auction; and he has implemented graph and network algorithms for optimising fixed line telecommunications networks using GIS data.
In addition to his work on spectrum auctions, Dr. Sorensen has advised clients on auction design and bidding strategies in diverse markets, including natural gas (gas and gas storage capacity); electricity (capacity markets, procurement, interconnector capacity); renewable energy (off-shore wind sites, contract for difference (CfD) contracts); water abstraction rights; airport slots; TV broadcasting licences; rough diamonds; industrial procurement; and horse racing courses.
Dr. Sorensen holds a PhD in economics from the University of Aarhus, Denmark, where he specialized in microeconomics, game theory and auction design. He has published part of his PhD thesis in Economics Letters and he has co-authored a chapter on CCA for the Handbook of Spectrum Auctions, published by Cambridge University Press. He is also a frequent speaker at industry conferences on spectrum policy.

Ira Keltz

Deputy Chief, OET, FCC

Ira Keltz is Deputy Chief of the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology.
OET is the Commission’s primary resource for engineering expertise and provides technical support to the Chairman, Commissioners and FCC Bureaus and Offices. Mr. Keltz is responsible for developing national spectrum policies for the United States telecommunications industry. This includes allocating spectrum for licensed services, setting technical rules for unlicensed devices, and implementing procedures for equipment certification.

Mr. Keltz has totaled almost 24 years at the FCC spanning two separate stints. In addition to positions in OET, he has held various positions in the Commission’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau. Mr. Keltz has also worked for the law firm DLA Piper as well as Loral Advanced Projects and LSA, Inc. He earned a Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from the George Washington University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan.

Jonas Wessel

Chair, RSPG

Jonas Wessel is Director of the Spectrum Department at the Swedish Post and Telecom Agency (PTS). He is also Chair of the Radio Spectrum Policy Group (RSPG) for the 2018-2019 period. The RSPG is a high-level advisory group that assists the European Commission in the development of radio spectrum policy. Jonas holds a MSC from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Industrial Engineering and Management. Jonas started his professional career as a strategy consultant, working mainly with business development in the telecoms and IT-sector.

In 2003, he joined the PTS as advisor on radio spectrum policy issues. After several positions within the Agency, including responsibility for auctions, he was assigned Director of the Spectrum Department in 2014. Jonas has been one of the driving forces behind the transformation of spectrum management in Sweden and has also been working with these issues internationally, mainly through the RSPG where he has been a delegate since 2004. He was Vice Chairman of the RSPG for the 2016-2017 period.

Branimir Stantchev

Head of Sector, Spectrum for Wireless Broadband, European Commission

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

Branimir is responsible for the development and implementation of EU-level spectrum policy for wireless broadband and 5G as well as the integration of research and innovation policies. Specific topics include the 5G spectrum roadmap, harmonised spectrum allocation, coordination of authorisation practice, spectrum management for vertical sectors, international cooperation.

Past
Branimir has been working for the European Commission since 2008.
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 (later National Instruments) in Germany in the area of wireless equipment design, manufacturing and marketing. He has made contributions to Wi-Fi standardisation.
Branimir has a PhD degree in mobile communications from the Dresden University.

Stéphane Ros

Spectrum Director, SNCF

Stephane ROS is the industrial telecoms officer for SNCF, in charge of delivering future services based on networks, whether they are wired or wireless, internal, external or hybrid, from optical fibers to GSMR and IoT.
Stéphane ROS also created and currently manages the SNCF’s spectrum bureau, in charge of collecting the SNCF needs and representing them in the external and official forums.

Andy Hudson

Head of Policy, GSMA

The GSMA represents the interests of nearly 800 of the world’s mobile operators as well as more than 200 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem. Andy has global responsibility for spectrum and regulatory modernisation, as well as the regulatory and policy aspects of the future networks, IoT and identity programmes.
Previously, he was Director of Spectrum Policy at Ofcom for three years, where he led the Mobile Data Strategy, including the release and sharing of public sector spectrum for civil use, and the 2.3/3.4 GHz auction team. Before that, Andy spent 12 years at Vodafone, where he held various senior product development, corporate strategy and public policy roles. As Head of Spectrum Policy, he was responsible for managing spectrum policy and auctions across the Vodafone Group. He was frequently in Brussels and further afield supporting Vodafone’s local operating companies, and over four years he managed the acquisition or renewal of spectrum in over 20 countries for a total of €9.5bn.
In 2000, he was part of the senior management team which spun an internet payments and encryption company out of NatWest. He was formerly a management consultant and a research scientist at Sharp Laboratories of Europe and Sony Corporation, based in Japan. He has a doctorate in Engineering Science from Oxford University and an MBA. He is married with two boys (17 and 13) and lives in a small village close to Oxford.

Catherine Bohill

Director Spectrum Strategy, Telefonica

As Director of Spectrum at Telefonica, Catherine works to pursue efficient and innovative approaches to Spectrum assignment and use. Working within the Corporate Strategy team and supported by regulatory, network and local teams, Catherine’s mandate is to optimize the management of current spectrum and contribute to defining the future pipeline across Telefonica’s footprint. Over the last 5 years Catherine’s team has valued spectrum in Telefonica’s 17 countries of operation, participating in primary and secondary market transactions both in auction and beauty contest scenarios. The spectrum team also leads Telefonica’s spectrum strategy towards WRC preparation and works closely with the GSMA in the pursuit of ever more efficient use of the radio-frequencies that are essential to improving the service we provide to over 300 million customers worldwide.

With over 22 years of experience in the Telco World, Catherine has spent 17 of those with Telefonica working on mobile transactions in M&A, Wholesale and most recently Spectrum. Before joining Telefonica, Catherine worked for Daimler Chrysler in Germany and Holland and with 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 (ESB Reutlingen FH) and a Masters in Finance from the Instituto de Empresa in Madrid. Catherine speaks English, German and Spanish - all with an Irish accent!

Aarti Holla

Secretary General, ESOA

Aarti Holla has been Secretary General of the ESOA since 2004. She was named one of the Faces of Satellite of 2014 by the Society of Satellite Professionals International and is Member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Space Technology.

Under Aarti’s leadership, ESOA & the CEOs of its member companies lead the effort to showcase the benefits of satellite communications for a more inclusive and secure society and foster a better environment to allow users to profit from satellite services that are available anywhere, anytime - vital to bridging the world’s digital divide and achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Since joining the association, Aarti has lead the expansion of ESOA from a European association to one that represents the interests of 20 global and regional satellite operators based in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. She reports directly to their Chief Executives.

Aarti has twenty years' experience in the aerospace industry, starting at Daimler-Benz Aerospace (now Airbus) in Germany. In 2000, she moved to Brussels, representing Airbus interests in the European satellite navigation program: Galileo.

Aarti holds a Masters of Business Administration from HEC, France & Stern Business School, NYC, USA. She qualified as Solicitor of the Supreme Court in the UK in 1995, holding a 2:1 graded LLB Hons Law with German Law degree from King's College, University of London & the University of Passau, Germany. Aarti is of British-Indian origin and holds British and Belgian nationalities. She lives in Brussels, has 3 children and speaks 5 languages.

Jeremy Godfrey

Commissioner, ComReg, & Chairperson, BEREC

Jeremy Godfrey joined the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) as Commissioner in 2013 and was Chairperson of the Commission from February 2015 to February 2017. He is Chair of the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) for 2019.

Mr Godfrey has almost thirty years’ experience in the ICT sector, as an industry executive, business consultant and Government official.

Prior to joining ComReg, he was Government Chief Information Officer in Hong Kong. In this role, he had responsibility both for Government IT and for IT-policy issues such as digital inclusion, internet governance and the promotion of inward investment in the IT sector.

Mr Godfrey began his career in the UK’s Department of Trade and Industry, serving as private secretary to the Cabinet Minister as well as in a variety of other roles. He then spent ten years in the Cable & Wireless Group, in Hong Kong and in the UK, mainly in strategy, marketing and regulatory roles – including Director of Strategy and Director of Marketing for Hong Kong Telecom.

Between 1998 and 2008, Mr Godfrey worked for PA Consulting Group where he was a partner in the Hong Kong office, serving clients in the communications, transportation, financial services and government sectors. Projects that he led included major change initiatives, business start-up projects, and due diligence assignments. He worked in around a dozen markets in Asia and the Pacific.

Mr Godfrey has a Master of Arts from Cambridge University, where he studied mathematics.

Phillip Marnick

Group Director, Spectrum , Ofcom

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)

Richard Womersley

Director of Spectrum Consulting, LS telcom

Richard is Director of Spectrum Services for LS telcom. He has 20 over years consulting and business experience working in the radio spectrum management, public telecommunications, digital broadcasting and satellite industries. He has worked for regulators, network operators, financiers, governments and end-users on issues covering national and international policy; regulation and its impact; pricing, auctions and licensing; cost modelling and tariff setting; planning and consultation; network specification and procurement; and digital switch-over. His work has been international in nature having taken him to every continent except Antarctica. Richard is also an experienced trainer having been running courses on spectrum management and policy for over 15 years.

In addition to providing consultancy advice and training, Richard’s career has embraced roles in a military communications company, as a transmission manager for BBC World Service and business manager for the UK’s largest broadcast infrastructure provider ntl: (now Arqiva) giving him a broad perspective on telecommunications and broadcast technologies and industries, their commercialisation and their regulation

René Dönni Kuoni

Vice-Director & Head of Telecoms Services, Ofcom Switzerland

René Dönni Kuoni holds the position of the Director of the Division “Telecom and Postal Services” at the Swiss Federal Office for Communications (OFCOM Switzerland), where he is a member of the board.

He joined office in 1995 and was involved in preparing the telecommunications market opening in Switzerland as of 1.1.1998. He also took part in the Negotiating Group on Basic Telecommunications within the framework of the General Agreement on Trade in Service (WTO GATS).

Between 1997 and 2002, he was project leader for tenders of mobile licenses and head of Mobile and Satellite communications within OFCOM Switzerland. From 2002 until 2013, he was the leader of economics and statistics of OFCOM Switzerland and dealt with market access issues and economic analyses, both nationally and in an international context.

Since 2013, Rene Dönni helds the responsibility for the Telecoms Division within OFCOM and since 2015 he is also responsible for the further development of the framework of the legislation on postal matters in Switzerland.
René Dönni Kuoni holds academic degrees in Economics as well as in Electrical Engineering. He is married and has 2 children.

Stephen Pentland

Group Public Policy Head of Spectrum, 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.

Jan-Hendrik Jochum

Spectrum Policy & Projects, Deutsche Telekom AG

Mr Jochum is expert in Spectrum Policy at Deutsche Telekom AG (DT), where he is responsible for spectrum management and projects. He is an expert for spectrum auctions and is leading all kinds of projects for airspace connectivity from a regulatory perspective within DT. Jan joined DT in 2009 and works in the regulatory sector since 2014. Prior to joining DT he was working in different projects in Europe for a management consultancy. Jan holds a Master of Arts in Political Sciences from the University of Bonn, Germany.

Lars Backlund

Secretary General, Broadcast Network Europe

BNE is based in Brussels and represents the commercial interests of Terrestrial Broadcast Network Operators in 21 European countries with regard to policy developments and regulatory intervention by European Institutions, ITU and other organisations. Focus is to secure long-term availability of adequate spectrum for the terrestrial broadcast platforms and nurturing the long-term market opportunity for content distribution via the terrestrial broadcast networks.
Mr Backlund has a professional background in the satellite industry with the Swedish Space Corporation and as a representative of the Swedish Government on the communications satellite board of the European Space Agency. He has also been a consultant to the World Bank on various communications system study missions. Mr Backlund has recently held several leading positions at Teracom (the Swedish operator of the TV and Radio terrestrial distribution networks) including international business development, strategic planning and regulatory affairs including responsibilities for liaison with Swedish Government Departments and Swedish National Regulatory Authorities.
Lars Backlund has a Master's Degree in telecommunications and microwave engineering and also diplomas from executive programmes at the Swedish Institute of Management and from various courses at INSEAD.

Chris Woolford

Director of International Policy, 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 and international spectrum initiatives and led the UK delegations to WRC-15 and WRC-12.

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

Rüdiger Martin

Policy Officer Spectrum Management, European Commission

Responsibilities
EU level spectrum policy development and implementation for short-range devices including RFID and ultra-wideband technologies as well as shared use of spectrum as a horizontal topic and spectrum issues falling under the Radio Equipment Directive.
Past
Rüdiger has been working for the European Commission since 2008. He joined the Directorate General Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CONNECT) to work as a scientific programme officer on research funding and research policy in the area of network technologies. Since beginning of 2015, he continues his professional path in spectrum policy. Before joining the Commission, Rüdiger 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. He studied computer science and mathematics in Germany and the US.

Lasse Wieweg

Global Coordinator, GSA Spectrum Group

Lasse Wieweg, Director, Government and industry relations at Ericsson, has worked with telecommunications 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 (now PTS). In 1994, he took up a new position within the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV), on 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

David Salant

Senior Managing Director, FTI Consulting

David Salant is a leading expert on auctions and game theory. Salant has advised government agencies in numerous countries on the design and implementation of spectrum auctions and allocation procedures. His consulting experience includes auction theory and strategic analysis for clients in spectrum auctions such as the US Federal Communications Commission for testing new package bidding procedures, Industry Canada and the Australian ACA for their first spectrum auctions. Salant has also led or helped guide bid strategy teams for numerous US FCC auctions, including virtually all the 2G, AWS and 700 MHz auctions, for the German and Austrian 3G auctions, the Netherlands 2G and 3G auctions, for the German 4G auction, for the Indian 3G auction, for a number of Mexican 2G and 3G auctions, for the Brazilian privatization of Telebras and the auctioning of mirror concessions, the Australian 2G and 3G auctions among others. He designed and implemented the first spectrum auction for paging licenses for the Mexican Ministry of Communications (SCT) and for trunk radio frequencies for the Guatemalan Superintendent of Telecommunications. Salant also led the team that developed auction software adopted by the Italian Ministero della Comunicazioni, Industry Canada, the Mexican Ministry of Communications and Transport, and the Guatemalan Superintendent of Telecommunications.
Salant experience in the energy sector includes serving as Auction Manager for Northwestern Energy default service procurement. Salant served as the Auction Monitor in the Illinois default service procurement auction. Salant has advised on design of capacity markets, transmission rights auctions and Renewable Energy Certificate auctions. Salant had primary responsibility for the design of the initial New Jersey BGS auction on behalf of the PSE&G, First Energy/JCP&L, Conectiv and RECO. He has also had a key role in the auction design of the Texas, ERCOT auction of capacity entitlements on behalf AEP, Reliant and TXU. Dr. Salant bid strategy experience in the energy sector includes advising a bidder in a MISO/PJM energy procurement. has advised EPCOR in the Alberta PPA auctions, the Alberta Balancing Pool for their MAP auctions and the DTe of the Netherlands on interconnector capacity auctions.

Salant teaches Auction Design, Strategy and Implementation course at the Toulouse School of Economics. He is also an Adjunct Senior Research Scholar at Columbia's Institute for Tele Information. Salant has an A.B. in Economics and and Mathematics from Washington University and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Rochester.

Amar Saïdani

Expert, Department of Regulatory and Spectrum Resources,, ANFR

Amar SAÏDANI is a military engineer from the French Ministry of defense seconded to the French national frequency Agency and is responsible for coordination and granting licenses for satellite frequencies declared by France to the ITU, including the satellite systems of the Intergovernmental organization EUTELSAT and the European Space Agency and the GALILEO satellite program from the European Union.
He worked for 20 years in a wide scope of EMC and spectrum issues for satellite and military programs and is still focused on spectrum management for crisis.
Since 2014, he chairs the satellite communications regulatory group of the CEPT harmonizing and enhancing the deployment of broadband satellite solutions, that recently finalized and published outcomes of the ECC report "satellite solutions for 5G".

Janja Varšek

head of Spectrum Management , AKOS

Janja Varšek is head of spectrum management department since acting as a chair in successfully finished big bang auction in 2014.
She is responsible for preparing and implementing the strategy for managing spectrum including clearing, awarding and licensing. She joined the Administration for Telecommunications of the Republic of Slovenia predecessor of national regulator in 1992. She dealt with telecommunications equipment, electromagnetic compatibility and market regulation. She worked as market supervisor and inspector for telecommunications for four years. She is member of RSPG and ECC.

Päivi Ruuska

Spectrum Manager, Telia Company

Päivi Ruuska has over 15 years of broad experience with wireless communication. She has held positions at a mobile operator, national regulatory authority, and mobile infrastructure provider where she has worked with mobile, broadcasting, as well as with short-range systems and spectrum. In her current role at Telia Company she focuses on spectrum management, including spectrum auctions, long-term spectrum planning, and influencing regulatory policies on national and international level.

Earlier she has worked at Norwegian Communications Authority with spectrum planning and licensing, and at Nokia Research developing and analyzing technical solutions to short-range and cognitive radio systems. She has participated in several international standardization and collaboration fora as an active contributor and as a group leader. Päivi has M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from Finland. She holds several patents and publications.

Eric Fournier

Director for Spectrum Planning and International Affairs, ANFR

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.

Daniel Kitscha

Deputy Head of Unit, Investments in High Capacity Networks, European Commission

Deputy Head of Unit, Investment in High-Capacity Networks, DG CONNECT, European Commission
Daniel works with the Commission’s team tasked with the delivery of targeted actions in support of the European Union’s strategic Gigabit broadband objectives. This includes both policy development, such as new Connecting Europe Facility, as well as the Commission's operational responsibilities related to broadband policy and investment, including the WiFi4EU programme.
Previously, he worked as Executive Policy Assistant to the Director for Electronic Communications Networks and Services (e.g. on Roaming, Net Neutrality, and the European Electronic Communications Code, etc.). He started his career in the Commission as Policy Officer in the Radio Spectrum Policy Unit.
He holds a Ph.D. in political science from University of Siegen, Germany.

Aurelie Bladocha Coelho

Director, Communications & Public Affairs , FTTH Council Europe

Aurélie Bladocha Coelho is currently Director Communications and Public Affairs at the FTTH Council Europe since June 2017.

Between 2014 and 2017, Aurélie was Senior Public Affairs Manager at ECTA, the trade association representing over 100 competitive operators across Europe, where she was responsible for developing and executing ECTA's communications and PR strategy.

Prior to joining ECTA, Aurélie was working at the European Parliament, as a political advisor to MEP Catherine Trautmann where she specialised in policies linked to electronic communications (regulatory framework) and digital issues.

Aurélie holds a Master Degree in European Policy Studies. She speaks fluent French and English and intermediate level of Spanish.

Wladimir Bocquet

Director Spectrum Management & Policy, Eutelsat

Wladimir Bocquet is the Director of Spectrum Management & Policy for Eutelsat. Previously at the GSMA, he was Head of Policy Planning for Government and Regulatory Affairs. In this role, he provided public policy analysis and recommendations to the GSMA executive team and offers a strategic view of global policy trends to GSMA members. He started at the GSMA as a Senior Director of Spectrum Policy, responsible for building consensus on spectrum policy positions and promoting best practice in spectrum management.  In October 2008, Mr Bocquet was appointed Deputy Director in charge of Spectrum Strategy and International Planning at Orange-France Telecom Group, and he led the Orange delegation at WRC-12. He worked in Japan for several years, first in mobile broadband communication for Fujitsu Laboratories and subsequently as senior manager of broadband access technologies for Orange Labs Tokyo-Seoul (formerly France Telecom R&D).  In addition to his GSMA responsibilities, Mr Bocquet also served as a lecturer for the US Telecom Training Institute (USTTI) and other international training bodies.  Mr Bocquet earned a degree in telecommunications from Telecom Bretagne (Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications de Bretagne, France) and a doctorate from the University of Kyoto, Japan.

Hazem Moakkit

Global Spectrum & Policy Regulator, ESOA

Hazem Moakkit is responsible for shaping Intelsat’s strategic long-term positioning in the marketplace. In his role, he works closely with the company’s product management and innovation service teams to analyze and identify emerging growth opportunities for Intelsat. In addition, he is responsible for managing efforts that protect, optimize and leverage the company’s spectrum assets in support of Intelsat’s broader long-term growth strategy.

Mr Moakkit is a veteran of the satellite industry. Prior to rejoining Intelsat in 2015, Mr Moakkit served as Vice President, Spectrum Development, at O3b Satellite Networks where he was responsible for managing and acquiring spectrum assets for the non-geostationary satellite operator, in addition to overseeing all of their regulatory activities at the ITU, CEPT and other regulatory bodies. Before that, he was the Director of Regulatory & Spectrum Affairs where he created and managed the spectrum strategy at Yahsat (UAE), and was a key member of the corporate strategy team where he was instrumental in formulating the expansion strategy for Yahsat in Africa and South America.

Prior to Yahsat, Mr Moakkit was a member of the spectrum & regulatory group at Intelsat (previously PanAmSat) in Washington D.C. During his tenure at PanAmSat, he also worked in various system and sales engineering capacities.

Early on in his career, Mr. Moakkit served as a systems engineer at ATCI, a nascent satellite systems integrator based in Tempe, Arizona. While at ATCI he designed and built RF systems for several Fortune 500 clients.

Mr Moakkit earned a Master of Business Administration Degree from Georgetown University and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering at Arizona State University.

Alexander Geurtz

VP 5G Solutions, SES

Bio to appear here shortly.

Ulrich Loewer

Director, TMT Strategy , EY

Bio Ulrich Loewer
Ulrich Loewer (short Uli) is a thought leader with almost 20 years of experience in telecoms, media and high tech. As director in EY-Parthenon's TMT team, he is a digital infrastructure expert with focus on strategy development and commercial due diligence, having led c. 20 engagements in the last couple of years.
Previously as VP Strategy and Public Affairs at Ericsson, Uli was part of the leadership team of two customer units and responsible for their strategy development and execution. As Head of Strategy at Arqiva, the UK broadcast and tower company, he worked with the executive team on strategic challenges and business development. Before that, Uli advised telecom, media and tech companies, including Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom, Liberty Global, STC and Ericsson, as a senior consultant at A.T. Kearney. Key topics include growth and technology strategies, regulatory economics, spectrum valuation and operational excellence.
And before settling in the UK, Uli worked at Bain & Company and then as a researcher in the digital economy space at the University of Munich and published his PhD thesis as a book.

Alessandro Casagni

Director, Wireless Regulatory Policy EMEA, Huawei

Director, Wireless Regulatory Policy EMEA, managing the wireless regulation issues within Huawei Wireless Strategies & Business Development Department.
Vice Chair of the Spectrum Group at the Global mobile Suppliers Association (http://gsacom.com/)

Alessandro holds a master degree in electronic engineering from Rome University.
During the period 2012 to 2015, Alessandro was in charge for the European Wireless Regulatory Policy.
During the period 2008 to 2011, Alessandro worked in Huawei LTE Product Line departments with special focus on the European regulation matters.
Prior to joining Huawei, Alessandro held several marketing and technical positions in Mediaset broadcasting company (2006 – 2007), Siemens mobile communications (2002 – 2006) and Accenture ICT consulting company (2000 – 2002).

Jozef Svrcek

Director, Martes Specure International

Jozef Svrcek is a director of Specure GmbH, based in Austria, Europe, with 5 years of spectrum auction consulting experience and over 16 years in the information technology and telecom industries, with a focus on project and infrastructure management.
Prior to joining Specure, Jozef worked for Deloitte as a senior consultant, specialising in the information technology related risks. Earlier in his career, he was an IT project manager for a global pharmaceutical company Bayer – Schering based in Berlin and Leverkusen, Germany.
Jozef has provided technology and consulting services for telecom auctions in the Slovak Republic in 2013, Czech Republic in 2012, 2013 and 2015. He was the team leader at the most recent auction in Podgorica, Montenegro (CCA frequency auction in 800 MHz, 900MHz, 1800MHz, 2 GHz and 2.6 GHz).
Jozef holds a Master’s degree in Enterprise Systems Implementation from Cranfield University, UK and a Master’s degree in Musicology from Comenius University, Slovakia.

Antonio Arcidiacono

Director of Technology & Innovation, EBU

Antonio Arcidiacono
Antonio is director of Technology & Innovation of the European Broadcasting Union. He has extensive experience in conceiving, developing and taking new products and services to market. He has worked as Director of Innovation, and a Member of the Management Committee, at Eutelsat since 2008 where he was responsible for launching innovative IP based satellite services.
Antonio is an internationally acclaimed expert in digital television, satellite communications, IP-based multimedia services and mobile telecommunications and managed a team of international experts. Amongst his many achievements, he participated in the launch of the first GSM services and was responsible for launching the first Digital TV services in Europe; he played a central role in the convergence between the broadcasting world and the Internet world in the mid 90’s with the launch of the DVB-IP set of standards; and oversaw disruptive ideas being translated into new products and commercial services.
With strong knowledge of the European market, he has worked closely with the leading players in the fields of Digital TV and Multimedia Services, and with European institutions at a technical, standardization, regulatory and competition level.
Antonio joined Eutelsat in 1990 and took part in key phases of its development from an international organization to privatization in 2001 and to the IPO in 2005. He worked initially as a New Services Manager and Head of the Multimedia Services Business Unit, launching the first Internet via satellite and satellite mobility services in Europe prior to his appointment as Director of Innovation where he developed the first satellite IOT service platform and the first native satellite OTT services.
Before working at Eutelsat, Antonio worked for the European Space Agency and started his career working for Telespazio and Selenia Spazio.
Antonio was a founding member of the Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) project and has been a member of its Steering Board since its inception in 1993.
Antonio has a Doctorate in Electronics & Telecommunications Engineering from the University of Pisa. He is fluent in Italian, English and French.

Johan Keetelaar

Director Public Policy, Facebook

Johan joined Facebook as Director Public Policy in the beginning of 2018. In this role Johan oversees Facebook’s policy activities in Europe, primarily in the field of Connectivity. Until the end of 2017 Johan had been Director Regulation and Competition at the Authority for Consumers & Markets (ACM) and a member of BEREC.

Before the launch of the ACM in 2013, Johan, who holds an MSc. in Econometrics from the University of Amsterdam, worked at the Netherlands Independent Post and Telecommunications Authority (OPTA) as Director Markets.

Prior to that Johan worked in the telecommunications and aviation industry for almost ten years.

Per Beming

Head Of Standards & Industry Initiatives , Ericsson

Per Beming is currently responsible for all standardization and industry inititives, including open source, for the Ericsson Group.
In previous roles Beming was responsible for Radio’s 5G program targeting 5G RAN products and demos, in addition to driving the architecture at Business Area Networks. Beming has been Director of RBS Systems at Development Unit Radio, Business Unit Networks. Beming has also held a role of Expert in Radio Access Architecture at Ericsson Research and being the head of Ericsson’s delegation to 3GPP RAN for WCDMA, HSPA and LTE standardization.
Beming joined Ericsson Research 1994 and holds an M.Sc. in Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering (1994).

Dr. Tassos Lyratzis

Co-Rapporteur for the Working Group 5G, RSPG

Dr. Tassos Lyratzis is an Electrical & Computer Engineer and holds a PhD in the field of Telecommunications & Computer Networks (1994). During his PhD studies, he worked as a specialist in Telecommunications in various European research projects.
He is working in EETT since 2001, in the Spectrum Directorate. He has been the Head of the Spectrum Management Department (2003-2006) when EETT was involved in the Spectrum Management of the Olympic Games of Athens in 2004. Since 2011 he is Head (Director) of Spectrum Division of EETT.
He participates in international activities in European Union Regulatory bodies like the Radio Spectrum Committee (2003-2006) and the Radio Spectrum Policy Group (2011 – today).
He is co-rapporteur for the Working Group 5G in the RSPG from 2016 till present.

Jennifer McCarthy

VP, Legal Advocacy, Federated Wireless

Jennifer McCarthy is responsible for the company’s regulatory and government affairs agenda. Jennifer is a telecommunications regulatory attorney with over 25 years of experience in the wireless sector having held a variety of government affairs, business development, and operations positions for several of the industry’s leading technology innovators.

Most recently, Jennifer was with MVP Capital, working with wireless spectrum license holders, TV and radio station owners, and other online content service providers on a variety of M&A projects. Prior to that, Jennifer was Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Operations for NextWave Wireless Inc. and part of the executive management team of MediaFLO USA Inc., a subsidiary of QUALCOMM Incorporated, where she identified, purchased, and cleared the TV Channel 55 spectrum used to deploy the nation’s first network dedicated to the reception of mobile television programming and other multimedia services. She was also the head of QUALCOMM’s international government affairs team responsible for regulatory and international trade strategy at the International Telecommunications Union and related organizations. Early in her career, she worked with Freedom Technologies, Inc., a boutique Washington, D.C.-based telecommunications consulting firm and its associated law firm.

Ms. McCarthy has a B.A. in political science from Yale University and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center. She is a member of both the California and Washington, DC Bars.

Sander Rotmensen

Head of Product Management Industrial Wireless & Security Components, Siemens

Sander Rotmensen is Head of Product Management for Industrial Wireless & Security Components at Siemens AG in Nuremberg, Germany. His responsibility covers the product portfolio for Industrial Wireless LAN components, Industrial Security Appliances, Industrial Routers and the Siemens management platform for remote access.

Sander started his career in Siemens Nederland N.V. in 2005. He worked as a Technical Consultant for industrial automation networks with a focus on Wireless LAN. In 2008 he moved to Germany and joined Siemens AG in Nuremberg where he became a Technical Consultant with focus on Industrial Wireless Communication. After that he worked as Product Manager for SCALANCE W, the Industrial Wireless LAN portfolio from Siemens. From 2014 to 2018 Sander joined Siemens Canada Ltd. His responsibility included Marketing and Product Management for the RUGGEDCOM network components that are used in harsh industrial environments like electric power and transportation networks.

With Siemens AG, as one of the founding members of 5G-ACIA, Sander is also an active member in 5G-ACIA in the working group 4 focused on liaisons and dissemination.

Peter Stuckmann

Head of Unit, Future Connectivity Systems, DG Connect , European Commission

Peter is managing the Commission's policy on 5G communication systems and the related research and innovation programme.

Before his appointment as Head of Unit he was managing the office of the Director General of DG CONNECT, Roberto Viola, coordinating the Commission's digital policy initiatives. The portfolio included Digital Single Market, Broadband Policy, Telecoms, Media and Online Policy, the Copyright Reform as well as the EU ICT Research and Innovation Programme.

Between 2010 and 2014 he had different roles in the Commission's telecoms policy Directorate. These included Head of Sector "Spectrum Policy", penholder of main elements of the Commission proposal on the Telecom Single Market and the Roaming regulation, and the implementation of the EU telecom rules in Germany and Austria.

Between 2005 and 2010 he coordinated the EU R&D programme leading to the 4G mobile communications standards.

Before joining the European Commission in 2004 he has occupied several engineering and management positions in industry, academia and start-ups. He holds engineering and doctoral degrees from RWTH Aachen University, Germany.

Jonas Wessel

Director, Spectrum Department, Swedish Post and Telecom Authority

Moderators

Janette Stewart

Principal, Analysys Mason

Janette Stewart is a Principal at Analysys Mason, specialising in wireless technology, radio spectrum management and valuation. She has nearly 25 years’ experience of working in radio engineering, spectrum policy and spectrum management through 2G to 5G. She is based in Scotland, UK. Janette began her career working for the UK spectrum regulator (now Ofcom) where she held various roles, latterly Senior Spectrum Engineer in the 3G Auction Team, responsible for determining UK spectrum plans for the 3G licence award and interacting with CEPT and ITU working groups. Since joining Analysys Mason in 2001, her 17 years of consulting experience includes advising on market opportunities within the wireless sector, technology strategy, business planning, spectrum strategy, valuation and auctions. She has worked with a wide range of public and private sector clients including national regulatory authorities and policy makers, fixed and mobile network operators, broadcasters, equipment vendors, wireless industry trade associations and spectrum users. Recent projects have included advising on 5G strategy, valuation of spectrum in 700MHz and 2.3GHz bands, 5G readiness in different world markets (in a published report for US industry association, CTIA) and a study on benefits of extending mobile coverage in the UK. She holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree from the University of Edinburgh, UK and a Master of Science degree in radio frequency engineering from the University of Bradford, UK.

Tony Lavender

Partner & CEO, Plum Consulting

Tony Lavender is a partner at Plum Consulting. He has more than 35 years experience spanning industry, regulation and consulting. He has worked on a wide range of communications policy, telecoms regulation and radio spectrum issues. His clients include governments, equipment vendors, network operators and regulators. Tony was a specialist adviser to the UK Parliament Culture, Media and Sport Committee Inquiry into “Establishing world class connectivity throughout the UK”, he chairs the Steering Board of the UK Spectrum Policy Forum and he was a member of the UK Government’s Expert Panel, established as part of the UK Spectrum Strategy, on “Incorporating Social Value into Spectrum Allocation Decisions”. He has worked on a wide range of studies on spectrum policy and management including on the 5G mmWave ecosystem, spectrum sharing, spectrum valuation and more broadly on telecoms infrastructure strategy. Tony is a Chartered Engineer and a member of the UK Institution of Engineering and Technology.

Tim Miller

Partner, Plum Consulting

Tim Miller is a Partner at Plum and specialises in the application of economic theory to telecommunications issues, with a particular focus on regulation, competition, and spectrum policy and strategy. His advice has been used by operators to lobby for changes to regulation, and by operators to form regulatory policy and strategy.

Tim has developed models and analytical tools for operators, regulators and governments around the world to assess the value of spectrum and how it should be awarded. He has also provided advice on how spectrum may be used from both a technical and regulatory perspective in mobile and fixed networks. His work considers the analysis of markets and company interactions, both in terms of their impact on spectrum awards and on regulation in general. He is adept at applying established regulations to emerging markets, particularly those in Africa, Latin America and the Middle East, but is keen to develop new regulatory thinking to reflect the changing nature of today’s telecommunications markets, applied to markets worldwide.

Tim has applied game theory to market interactions to enable operators and regulators to understand likely outcomes of decisions, and how to mitigate against unwanted effects. His work has also included mobile broadband regulation, the estimation of demand for data traffic, economic impact and cost benefit analyses, the pricing of regulated services, broadcasting cost models, undersea cable disputes, mobile number portability, universal service cost calculations, and structural separation.

Tim has an MSc in Economics from the University of Bristol, specialising in auction and game theory, and a BSc in Economics and Mathematics from the same institution.

Björn Thegeby

Senior Expert, Spectrum Policy, European Commission

After a few years in the private sector, Björn Thegeby joined the Swedish diplomatic service in 1983 with postings in Riyadh, New York, Madrid, Rome and at the United Nations, negotiating the UN budget. In 1999, Björn joined the European Commission, drafting the European Biotechnology Strategy a cross-Commission project.
In 2004, he moved to spectrum issues, focusing on the introduction of service and technology neutrality and broadcasting matters. Since 2010, Björn has been coordinating the European Union approach to the ITU World Radiocommunication Conferences.

Graham Louth

Partner, Aetha Consulting

Graham has extensive experience in all aspects of spectrum policy, management and regulation as well as having worked in areas such as regulatory accounting, incremental cost modelling (fixed and mobile), retail and wholesale price control, margin squeeze, universal service provision and tariff analysis.

Graham Louth joined Aetha in 2014 from Ofcom, where he was Director of Spectrum Policy, Mobile and Auctions. Prior to joining Ofcom in 2003, Graham worked at Analysys Mason (then Analysys Consulting).

Graham joined Ofcom, the UK's converged communications regulator as Director of Spectrum Markets, tasked with making the changes necessary to allow spectrum users to decide how to make best use of this invaluable national resource, rather than being directed by the regulator. More recently, as Director of Spectrum Policy, Mobile and Auctions, he has been responsible for ensuring that existing and prospective mobile network operators are able to make the best possible use of existing spectrum, and have access to critical bands of new spectrum such as the 800MHz and 2.6GHz bands, so as to be able to deliver the best possible mobile services to UK consumers and citizens at competitive prices.

At Analysys Consulting, Graham was in charge of the Pricing, Costing and Regulation practice. During that time he was instrumental in the development of numerous telecoms network cost models, for both regulatory and commercial purposes, for clients around the world.

Martin Sims

Managing Director, Policy Tracker

Martin Sims set up PolicyTracker, the leading global spectrum policy newsletter in 2004 and is the company’s managing director. He specialises in analysing spectrum issues, writing extensively on the subject and producing research reports and consultancy for a range of clients. He is a co-author of Understanding Spectrum Liberalisation (CRC Press 2015)

Martin is also an instructor on PolicyTracker’s training courses. These include Understanding Modern Spectrum Management, which has had over 200 participants since it started in 2008. Other courses include the UK-based Spectrum Auctions Masterclass, covering auctions theory, law and valuation as well as auctions courses in Dubai, Bahrain and Mexico City. Martin has also run bespoke training courses for clients as diverse as the Nigeria and Thai regulators as well as the Thai judiciary.

Until recently Martin Sims pursued a parallel career as an academic, specialising in telecoms and broadcasting policy while working at the University of East London and other institutions. He contributed a chapter to The Handbook of Corporate Communication published by Routledge, written an academic article for the Communications and Strategies journal as well as hundreds of journalistic articles covering this field. He has an MA in Communications from the University of Westminster and BA hons from London University.

Gérard Pogorel

Professor of Economics and Management-Emeritus, Telecom Paris Tech

Gérard POGOREL is Professor of Economics and Management-Emeritus, Telecom Paris Graduate School of Engineering, France, and an independent international expert in telecommunications and the digital economy. He published recently widely circulated and influential position papers: Spectrum 5.0 Re-thinking Spectrum Awards for Optimal 5G Deployment (2018), and Spectrum 5.0 : Improving assignment procedures to meet economic and social policy goals (2017), and a reference book The Radio Spectrum: Managing a Strategic Resource (Wiley 2008)

He co-authored in 2014 a report to the Prime Minister of Italy assessing the investments by operators in Broadband networks in the European Digital Agenda perspective. He was an independent member of the Organo di Vigilanza of Telecom Italia Open Access (2009-2013) monitoring access to the incumbent’s network. He co-founded in 2006 the European Spectrum Management Conferences, acted as its Chair/Rapporteur, and is a frequent speaker. He is an expert with the European Commission DG Connect, and was 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 set up joint research programmes on spectrum policies with universities in Sweden, the UK, Italy, in America, and in Japan and Thailand. He participates in numerous international Government-level and regulation Authorities Committees and Scientific Committees on telecom and media policy and regulation.

Stefan Zehle

CEO, Coleago

Stefan Zehle, MBA, (CEO) Stefan is a co-founder of Coleago, was a Director Strategy, Marketing and Regulatory Affairs of a mobile operator. With 28 years telecoms experience, he is an expert in telecoms marketing strategy, spectrum valuation, and business planning. Stefan was responsible for many successful mobile licence bids and spectrum auctions and worked in 40 countries in developed and emerging markets. Stefan holds an MBA with distinction. Co-author of the Economist’s Guide to Business Planning

Veronica Bocarova

Principal Analyst, Cullen International

Veronica is responsible for developing Cullen International’s regulatory training portfolio. She has been actively engaged in capacity building initiatives for policymakers and regulators across a wide range of European countries. She also worked extensively on expanding Cullen International’s service coverage into the CEE countries and led the European Commission’s monitoring of telecom markets in the EU enlargement countries from 2008 to 2014.

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Logistics

When

Wed 19 June, 2019 09.00 to
Thu 20 June, 2019 17.00

CET

Where

BluePoint Brussels

80 Bd. A. Reyers
1030 Brussels
Belgium

Tel: +32 (0)2 706 88 00

infobrussels@bluepoint.be

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