The European 5G Conference 2022

Pearse O’Donohue is Director for the Future Networks Directorate of DG CONNECT at the European Commission, dealing with policy development and research supporting the Digital Single Market as regards 5G networks, IoT, cloud and data flows and conceptualising new and innovative approaches towards service platforms and Next Generation Internet. Before becoming Director, Pearse was Head of the Cloud and Software Unit in DG CONNECT, dealing with the strategic development and implementation of policy on cloud computing and software.

Until October 2014, Pearse was Deputy Head of Cabinet of Vice-President Neelie Kroes, previous European Commissioner for the Digital Agenda. He was responsible for advising the Vice-President on the development and implementation of policy on electronic communications, networks and services, as well as broadband, spectrum and other related policies such as Internet governance.

Before that, Pearse was Head of the Radio Spectrum Policy Unit in the European Commission, DG CONNECT.

Prior to joining the European Commission, Pearse held posts in the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs, the Permanent Representation of Ireland to the EU in Brussels, and as Assistant Director of the Brussels office of the Irish Business & Employers’ Confederation.

Rita Wezenbeek joined the European Commission in 2002. Before moving to DG CONNECT in December 2020, Rita was the head of DG Competition’s Anti-Trust and Telecommunications Unit, in charge of applying the European competition rules in the area of electronic communications. Between 2010 and 2017, Rita was the head of DG Competition’s unit dealing with Retail Financial Services and Payment Systems. The unit ia. dealt with the investigations against MasterCard and Visa and was responsible for the competition elements of the legislative processes leading to the adoption of the Interchange Fee Regulation and the Payment Services Directive II, opening the EU payment services market for non-bank players.

Before joining the Commission, Rita worked for sixteen years as a private lawyer, specialized in European and corporate law, at the Dutch/ Belgian law firm Nauta Dutilh. During fifteen years, she also was a Member of the Commission on European Integration, an independent advisory body on foreign policy to the Dutch government and Parliament.

Ms Annemarie Sipkes is the Director of the Telecommunications, Transport and Postal Services Department at the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM). Annemarie Sipkes, M.Sc.in economics, MA in Arts, Sciences and Technology has been the Director of ACM’s Telecommunications, Transport and Postal Services Department since April 2018. Ms Sipkes has profound public sector experience. She worked from 2012 until 2018, as the Director of Knowledge and Strategy at the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. She also worked at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment, the Dutch Central Bank, as well as at the accountancy company KPMG. Since 1 October 2020, she has been elected the BEREC Board of Regulators elected the BEREC Chair for 2022.

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.

Maarit has an extensive expertise in telecoms, broadband and internet matters. She joined ETNO from the Internet Society, where she served as a Senior Manager Europe and where she has acquired strong experience of broadband policies as well as extensive links with internet and tech stakeholders.

Maarit also had direct experience of the telecoms business during her 6 years at Cisco and has developed a strong service-oriented, hands-on profile acquired in leading consultancies Interel and Schuman Associates.

She also has a strong European academic background from the College of Europe, LSE, King’s College and SciencesPo. Maarit is a Finnish national, she also speaks English and French.

Jean-Pierre Faisan is head of the communications working group of the European Wireless Infrastructure Association, where he represents TDF as senior policy advisor.
A graduate of Ecole Polytechnique Paris and of Telecom Paris, he has more than 34 years of experience in the field of satellite, broadcast and mobile networks in France and in the USA. He has held a variety of R&D, operational and managerial positions at Satellite Systems Engineering, INTELSAT, CCETT (now Orange labs), Sofratev and Gobé, and TDF.
He is since 8 years founder and managing director of Leader Wave, a consultancy specialized in telecommunications and spectrum policy.

Elisabetta has lead multiple strategic and regulatory projects at national, European and extra-European level over the past 20 years, with particular focus on Fiber Plans and Co-investment initiatives, National Recovery and Resilience Plans and 5G spectrum evaluation and auction strategy for both Operators and Regulators.

Prior to join ADL Elisabetta was the former Head of Regulatory Accounting and Third Parties at Sky Italy.

She holds an Economics MSc from LUISS Guido Carli, Rome.

Eric is in charge of investment policy in 5G connectivity at DG CONNECT of the European Commission. He coordinates the CEF Digital action on 5G for Smart Communities. He has been working in electronic communications policy, research and innovation for ten years. Prior to joining the Commission, he was an IT consultant for the derivatives trading desks of investment banks.
He holds an Ingénieur MSc from Telecoms Bretagne in Brest, France and a Business MSc from HEC in Paris, France.

Ralf Capito joined Vantage Towers AG as Director External Affairs in August 2020. In this role, he is responsible for the Group’s public affairs, including policy, regulation and funding, as well as external communications and corporate security. Prior to that, he served across Vodafone’s European remit in various public affairs, regulatory and legal functions, most recently as Head of Media Policy at Vodafone Deutschland. Before that he represented Vodafone Group for more than four years on various competition and infrastructure related dossiers with the EU institutions.

Over the years, Mr. Capito’s professional experience has focused on issues covered by the EU Digital Single Market such as telecommunications, connectivity, and competition, among others. A lawyer by profession, he graduated from the Faculty of Law of the University of Marburg (Germany). He holds a Master in European Law (LL.M.) from the University of Nottingham (UK).

Lenka Šolcová is a project manager helping since more than 10 years to implement international projects in the fields of high-tech and innovation. Her special focus is on central Europe and Germany. On behalf of the Bavarian State Chancellery she is the project co-ordinator of the 5G Corridor Munich – Prague.

Alberto Di Felice leads the Infrastructure, Privacy and Security teams at DIGITALEUROPE. He is responsible for data protection, cybersecurity and telecoms.

Alberto joined DIGITALEUROPE in February 2018, having previously spent seven years at Qualcomm, a world leader in mobile technologies. His work there cut across EU technology policy areas such as privacy, telecoms regulation and the impact of digital on innovation and business models, including verticals such as connected cars and mobile health.

Alberto is a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/E). He holds degrees in law and European studies from the universities of Teramo and Trento in Italy as well as a masters in diplomacy from the Institute for International Political Studies in Milan.

Janette Stewart is a Partner 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.

Mr Andersson has more than 20 years of experience from infrastructure industries. Bo Andersson has a Ph.D. in economics from Stockholm School of Economics and has a background as a researcher. He has written several papers and journal articles on price formation and competition in deregulated markets. Prior to his current position as Chief Economist he has worked as a market analyst in the power sector and as a consultant, working primarily with infrastructure issues, for different government agencies and industries.

Peter is Head of Unit and Deputy Director, Future Networks in DG CONNECT, where he is managing the Commission’s policy on 5G communication systems and the related research and innovation programme.
Last December he has been appointed Interim Director of the newly established Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking, responsible to manage its office and implement its work programme until its autonomy.
Before his appointment to Head of Unit he has been coordinating the Digital Single Market Strategy, was Head of Sector “Spectrum Policy”, coordinating the 2012 Roaming Regulation, and 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.

David is a lawyer by training and a former Associate Partner at McKinsey & Company. He joined ng-voice in 2019 as CEO with a focus on ng-voice’s commercialization and growth strategy. ng-voice is a Germany-based software company and offers the industry’s most cloud-native IMS, the software component to enable voice on any 4G/ 5G network.
He is also the Founder and Co-President of European Association of Next Generation Telecommunications Innovators (EANGTI).

Olivier Simon graduated from Ecole Central Paris in 2000. He joined France Telecom/Orange in 2002 and has been involved since 2005 in Researches and Development of digital cellular networks of third, fourth and fifth generation. At the beginning of this period, he was also managing activities related to SDR (Software Defined Radio), European Regulation of telecommunication, Business Modelling, MBWA (Mobile Broadband Wireless Access) and standardization of LTE. In 2009, he became Radio Infrastructures Program Manager in Orange Labs, also in charge of delivering radio access network innovations to the countries of Orange group. Olivier Simon is currently Director of Radio Innovation, in charge of defining the evolution of Radio Access Networks for Orange Group.

Lorenzo Pupillo is an Associate Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Cybersecurity @CEPS Initiative.

Before joining CEPS, he served as an Executive Director in the Public & Regulatory Affairs Unit of Telecom Italia developing the company’ global public policies for Internet, Cyber-Security, Next Generation Networks. He also managed Telecom Italia’s relations with the OECD, the ITU and other international associations and organizations. Previously, Dr. Pupillo held a variety of senior positions in the Strategy, Business Development and Learning Services divisions of Telecom Italia.  He is an economist by training and has worked in many areas of telecommunications demand and regulatory analysis, publishing four books on Internet Policy and many papers in applied econometrics and industrial organization. He has served as an advisor to the Global Information and Communication Technologies Department of the World Bank. Before joining Telecom Italia, he was member of the technical staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill – New Jersey – and he worked as senior economist for governmental institutions. Dr. Pupillo is also an affiliated researcher at Columbia Institute for Tele Information at Columbia Business School and serves on numerous scientific and advisory boards around the globe. He obtained a Ph.D. and an M.A. from University of Pennsylvania, an MBA from Istituto Adriano Olivetti in Ancona Italy and an MS in Mathematics from University of Rome.

Lorena Boix Alonso is Director for Digital Society, Trust and Cybersecurity in Directorate General for Communications Networks Content and Technology (DG CONNECT), at the European Commission. Formerly, she was Acting Director for Policy Strategy and Outreach and Head of Unit for Policy Implementation and Planning, also in DG CONNECT. Previously, she was Deputy Head of Cabinet of Vice President Neelie Kroes, Commissioner for the Digital Agenda and also during Ms Kroes’ mandate as Commissioner for Competition. She joined the European Commission Directorate-General for Competition in 2003. Prior to that, she has worked for Judge Rafael García Valdecasas, at the European Court of Justice, as well as Deputy Director and Legal Coordinator of the IPR-Helpdesk Project and in private practice in Brussels. She holds a Master of Laws from the Harvard Law School and a Licence Spéciale en Droit Européen from the Université Libre de Bruxelles. She graduated in Law from the University of Valencia.

Dr. Andreas Mitrakas is Head of Unit “Market, Certification & Standardisation” in the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA). He co-chairs the Stakeholders Cybersecurity Certification Group (SCCG).

Prior to joining ENISA, Andreas served as General Counsel in Globalsign and as a Senior Counsel in Verizon and Ubizen.

Andreas is a qualified lawyer and holds a doctorate in Law from Erasmus University of Rotterdam, a M.Sc. in Strategic Quality Management, from University of Portsmouth a LL.M. in Computer science and Law from Queen’s University of Belfast and a first degree in Law from University of Athens.

Bart Groothuis is a member of the European Parliament on behalf of the Dutch People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), which is part of the liberal political group Renew Europe. He is a member of the Industry, Research and Energy committee and a substitute member for the committee Security and Defence. In parliament, he focuses on cybersecurity, especially in his role as Rapporteur of the NIS II Directive, the energy transition and disinformation & foreign interference. Before Bart became member of the European Parliament in February 2020, he was head cybersecurity for the Dutch Ministry of Defence.

Mikko Karikytö is the Chief Product Security Officer (CPSO) & Head of Product Security for Ericsson with accountability for security requirements, standards, strategy and architecture, related to product development and management, and overall accountability of product security and product privacy.

He is senior advisor on Product and Solution Security to the CTO, and other executive Ericsson leaders. Mikko has previously worked as Head of Network Security and Head of PSIRT (Product Security Incident Response Team) responding, investigating and solving cyber security incidents and breaches with Ericsson customers globally.
Mikko has also engaged in industry collaboration through organizations like ETIS, FIRST and EU Commission work groups. He has also provided Subject Matter Expertise for committee hearings of the UK parliament and the German Bundestag in 5G Security.

Ms. Zhiqin Wang is the Vice President of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT). She is the Chair of the Wireless Technical Committee of China Communications Standards Association (CCSA) and Vice Director of the Wireless and Mobile Technical Committee of China Institute of Communications (CIC). She has long been dedicated to the in-depth studies on mobile communications technologies and standards, serving as Chair of the IMT-2020（5G）Promotion Group and Chair of the IMT-2030（6G）Promotion Group in China.

Matti Latva-aho received the M.Sc., Lic.Tech. and Dr. Tech (Hons.) degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Oulu, Finland in 1992, 1996 and 1998, respectively. From 1992 to 1993, he was a Research Engineer at Nokia Mobile Phones, Oulu, Finland after which he joined Centre for Wireless Communications (CWC) at the University of Oulu. Prof. Latva-aho was Director of CWC during the years 1998-2006 and Head of Department for Communication Engineering until August 2014. Currently he serves as Academy of Finland Professor in 2017 – 2022 and is Director for National 6G Flagship Programme for 2018 – 2026. His research interests are related to mobile broadband communication systems and currently his group focuses on beyond 5G systems research. Prof. Latva-aho has published close to 500 conference or journal papers in the field of wireless communications. He received Nokia Foundation Award in 2015 for his achievements in mobile communications research.

Cristina is the Director of Spectrum information and analysis, Spectrum Group at Ofcom. Cristina currently leads the Spectrum Mobile Data Strategy programme with a particular focus on assessing the implications of growing demand. Prior to working on 5G, Cristina led the development of a new spectrum sharing framework, and launched Ofcom open data policy. In particular Cristina was responsible for the release of the UK Interactive spectrum map and the release of information on spectrum use in open format. Prior to joining Ofcom Cristina held various marketing and strategy roles at Telefonica O2, EE (then Orange), and Ericsson (then Red Bee Media). Cristina holds a Master Degree in Management Engineering from the Politecnico di Torino university in Italy.

Bernard Barani graduated from the École Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications de Bretagne in 1982. He then worked as communications engineer in industry on military infrared systems and then with the European Space Agency on advanced satcom programmes.

In 1994, he joined the European Commission and was responsible for implementation of research and policy issues in wireless communication, Internet, audio visual systems, Software and Services. He has been Deputy head of unit for research and policy in the field of Internet of Things systems.

He is currently Acting head of unit in charge of research and innovation on Network Technologies in the CONNECT Directorate General of the European Commission. He is responsible for the definition and implementation of the research strategy related to future networks under the 5G Public Private Partnership and to systems based on connected objects (IoT) in support of EU industry competitiveness. He is also responsible for the 5G/IoT standardisation and IPR related work.

Volker is an energetic leader with 25+ years of broad and international experience in the telecommunications industry. He is known for his strong commitment to customer and team achievements. Throughout his career he has demonstrated an ability to meet and exceed targets through strong intellectual grasp, excellent leadership skills, and a strong focus on creating new opportunities and business development impact.

In his current role of 6G leadership with Nokia Bell Labs, the industrial research and scientific development arm of Nokia, he leads Nokia digital transformation initiatives aimed at exploring and leveraging innovations with customers and partners in the fledgling ecosystem for the 6G era.

In his previous role as Head of 5G Leadership and Chief Architect of Nokia Mobile Networks, Volker played a key role in defining Nokia e2e 5G offering and positioning Nokia strongly in 5G and associated innovation, technologies and architecture.

Prior to this, Volker served in Head of Strategy roles of the company and as Head of the North East Region, driving market share gain in many key markets, including Scandinavia, Russia and Turkey.

In his 10+ year career with Siemens, Volker has held Business Unit leadership, finance, sales and marketing, services and R&D global roles and senior positions. He has worked as Information Technology Specialist with the World Bank / IFC in the mid-90s. Volker has started his career as a research scientist with German Aerospace Research / DLR.

Dr. Wen Tong is the CTO, Huawei Wireless. He is the head of Huawei wireless research. In 2011, Dr. Tong was appointed the Head of Communications Technologies Labs of Huawei, currently, he is the Huawei 5G chief scientist and led Huawei’s 10-year-long 5G wireless technologies research and development.

Prior to joining Huawei in 2009, Dr. Tong was the Nortel Fellow and head of the Network Technology Labs at Nortel. He joined the Wireless Technology Labs at Bell Northern Research in 1995 in Canada.

Dr. Tong is the industry recognized leader in invention of advanced wireless technologies, Dr. Tong was elected as a Huawei Fellow and an IEEE Fellow. He was the recipient of IEEE Communications Society Industry Innovation Award in 2014, and IEEE Communications Society Distinguished Industry Leader Award for “pioneering technical contributions and leadership in the mobile communications industry and innovation in 5G mobile communications technology” in 2018. He is also the recipient of R.A. Fessenden Medal. For the past three decades, he had pioneered fundamental technologies from 1G to 5G wireless and Wi-Fi with more than 470 granted US patents.

Dr. Tong is a Fellow of Canadian Academy of Engineering, and he serves as Board of Director of Wi-Fi Alliance.

Nicolas Chuberre graduated from “Ecole Supérieure d’Ingénieur en Electronique et Electrotechnique” in Paris in 1988. Previously with Nokia & Alcatel Mobile phones to design signal processing algorithms, Medium Access Control protocols and integration test tools for 2G cellular handsets & systems, he joined Thales Alenia Space to manage the development of satellite payload equipment and the design of advanced Satellite Communication Systems (GEO and Non GEO). He has successfully initiated and led several European collaborative research projects in FP6, FP7, H2020 as well as ESA ARTES context. He has been chairing the SatCom Working Group of Networld2020 technology platforms (https://www.networld2020.eu/) during 9 years and as such was member of the partnership board of the 5G Infrastructure Association (http://5g-ppp.eu/). Nicolas has published several papers on innovative Satellite System concepts. Currently he is defining and developing Satellite Solutions for 5G. In addition, he is the lead representative of Thales in 3GPP TSG RAN where he is the rapporteur of the standardisation on satellite in 5G. He also chairs since 2006 the Satellite Communication and Navigation working group at ETSI (www.etsi.org).

Dr. Soren Sorensen is an Associate Director in NERA’s Auction Group with more than 10 years’ consulting experience, whose work spans spectrum auctions in more than 25 countries, and includes auction design and auction implementation for regulators as well as advice on bidding strategies for mobile operators.

Jonas Wessel is Director of the Spectrum Department at the Swedish Post and Telecom Agency (PTS). 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 and Chair 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.

Dave leads HPE’s wireless policy and advocacy initiatives, ensuring that HPE’s wireless technology and product innovations are enabled and supported by suitable regulatory structures and rules. Dave is a spectrum champion, advocating for unlicensed, licensed, and dynamic sharing frameworks – recognizing the vital role that all spectrum management regimes play in our increasingly wireless world.

In addition to his role with HPE, Dave participates in a number of SDOs and ITOs and is currently the President of the OnGo Alliance.

Dave began his odyssey in networking/telecom/mobile/wireless in the early ‘90s while serving in the US Marine Corps. He then transitioned to the commercial sector as a systems engineer. In the intervening years he has spent much of his time in Technical Marketing, Standards Development, and Policy Advocacy. Dave is a Cisco Certified Internetworking Expert (CCIE) Emeritus (#2062), a Certified Wireless Network Administrator (CWNA), and a CBRS Certified Professional Installer (CPI).

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.

Amit has over 20 years of experience advising fixed and mobile operators, regulators/government bodies, financial institutions and equipment manufacturers on commercial, technical and regulatory issues. He has supported several multi-billion dollar M&A and debt financing transactions and has led numerous high-profile studies in the area of radio spectrum policy. Amit brings a global perspective to his work having undertaken projects for clients in Europe, North America, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Amit holds an M.Sc. in Radio Frequency and Communications Engineering from the University of Bradford and an M.B.A. from the University of Warwick, UK.

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.

Dr. Heidi Himmanen is a Chief Adviser at the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom. Her tasks include promoting the uptake of 5G in different sectors of the society, such as transport, cities and industry. The work includes supporting trials, innovation and R&D, bridging the needs of verticals and the development work in spectrum management. Heidi has previously worked as Head of Spectrum Supervision and Head of Radio Networks Unit at Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority (today Traficom). She holds a D. Sc. (Tech.) degree in Telecommunications Engineering from University of Turku, Finland, and a M. Sc. (Tech.) degree in Telecommunications Engineering from Helsinki University of Technology (today Aalto University), Finland.

Glyn Carter’s expertise spans a range of areas, including technology strategy, spectrum and other regulatory issues, standards, and the specification and procurement of voice and data terminals and services. Glyn’s knowledge of mobile telecoms technologies includes LTE, UMTS/HSPA, CDMA/EV-DO, GSM/GPRS and TETRA.

Glyn currently works in the Future Spectrum team at GSMA, preparing for the next ITU World Radio Communication Conference (WRC). In particular, Glyn is developing technical studies into compatibility and sharing between mobile and other services in spectrum bands. Before joining the GSMA in February 2012, Glyn spent over 10 years working for mobile operators in countries including Portugal, Romania and the UK.

As a consultant, Glyn has participated in numerous projects for regulators, operators and users of telecommunications, including replanning the radio spectrum in South Africa and other spectrum management projects for regulators in the UK, Japan, Sweden and Jordan. Glyn also undertook spectrum compatibility studies in CEPT and was editor of ECC Report 42 on spectrum efficiency. Before this, Glyn designed communication terminal products for Racal Electronics. Glyn has a bachelor of science degree in mathematics and a PhD in cryptography from London University.

Martha Suarez was born in Bucaramanga, Colombia. She received her degree as Electronics Engineer from the Universidad Industrial de Santander in 2004. During her undergraduate studies she participated in an exchange program with the Ecole Superieure Chimie Physique Electronique de Lyon, France in 2001. She received her master degree in high frequency communication systems from the University of Marne-la-Vallee, France in 2006 and her Ph.D. degree from the University Paris-Est in 2009. She joined the department of Telecommunications and Signal Processing at the École Supérieure d’Ingénieurs en Électronique et Électrotechnique de Paris ESIEE and the Esycom Research Center where she worked on wireless transmitter architectures. In 2011 she was awarded with a Marie Curie Fellowship and worked at the Instytut Technologii Elektronowej ITE in Poland for the Partnership for Cognitive Radio Par4CR European Project. Her research interests were in the areas of wireless system architectures and the design of high performance Radio Frequency RF transceivers. Since 2013 she joined the National Spectrum Agency in Colombia, ANE, where she worked as Senior Adviser to the General Director and supported international activities of the Agency. Afterwards, in December 2015, she became the General Director of ANE and continued promoting the efficient use of the Spectrum and the mobile broadband connectivity in Colombia. Since the 1st of May 2019, Martha Suarez is the President of the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance DSA, a global organization advocating for laws and regulations that will lead to more efficient and effective spectrum utilization, which is essential to addressing key worldwide social and economic challenges.

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Bruno leads the Wireless Technologies group within the Facebook Reality Labs (FRL) organization. This team gathers all the expertise in wireless (RF, Antenna, Design, Verification and Test, Certification, Standards, Spectrum Policy, Firmware and Systems) and owns the definition, development and validation of every wireless interface across the whole FRL product portfolio (Oculus VR, Portal, Ray-Ban Stories).  Before joining Facebook Bruno spent most of his career in Europe, working for Motorola and pioneering on the 2G, 3G and 4G technologies and also on the IoT startup scene, creating groundbreaking device designs, ranging from NB-IoT connected garbage sensors to sub-GHz ultra low power animal trackers. Bruno earned a Masters Engineering in Telecommunications from the University of Cantabria, one of the leading RF and Networking colleges in Spain.

Marc Eschenburg has worked in the telecoms industry since 2008 advising fixed and mobile operators as well as regulators and other government bodies on a wide range of commercial, technical and regulatory issues. He has been very active in the area of radio spectrum policy, advising more than 30 operators worldwide on their spectrum strategy and assisting them to value spectrum ahead of spectrum auctions. In addition, he has worked with regulators and industry bodies on key spectrum management issues, including work on incentive pricing, forecasting future spectrum demand and identifying measures of efficient spectrum use. Further to his work on spectrum, Marc advises clients ahead of major market transactions and has carried out various projects on next-generation broadband as well as in the TV and media space. Marc holds a Masters in Infonomics from Maastricht University in the Netherlands.

Alexander Kuhn is a Senior Government Official at the German Federal Network Agency (BNetzA).

He is Head of Spectrum. He lead the European countries (CEPT) at WRC 2015 and 2019.

Branimir is responsible for developing and implementing EU-level policy initiatives with focus on wireless broadband and 5G. These relate to the harmonised and flexible use of spectrum, in particular for mobile broadband and vertical applications as well as a long-term strategy for the long-term use of UHF broadcasting spectrum.

Branimir has been working with 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 in Germany in the area of wireless equipment design, manufacturing and marketing.

Branimir has a PhD degree in mobile communications from the Dresden University. He has contributions to Wi-Fi standardisation.

Eiman Mohyeldin is a Senior Specialist Spectrum Regulation at Nokia.

Eiman has twenty years of a professional experience in radio research and spectrum regulation and standardization in Siemens, Nokia Siemens Networks, Nokia Networks, and lately Nokia. She is based in Germany, in 2007 she joined the standardization and spectrum team group’s, focusing on spectrum aspects, in particular participating in CEPT, ATU and ITU-R meetings. She is actively involved in the WRC process, participating in the WRC Conferences and preparatory meetings (CPM).

Eiman started her career in 2001 in radio research, focusing on the development of 4G/IMT-A in research and regulation, including participation in various European-funded projects with project management and task leadership positions. She holds a M.Sc. in Communications Engineering from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) in 2000.

Simon M Watts has worked in the telecommunications industry since graduation from Manchester University with a BSc in Physics in 1981, with the majority of his experience gained from within the satellite communications industry. Simon has extensive experience of satellite communications and network design having overseen deployment of major satellite networks for BT International and Hughes Network Systems.

Simon has worked with Avanti in a Principle Consultant role from early 2012 on multiple ESA, UK, FP7 and H2020 projects looking at the integration of satcom in to 5G. He has brought wide experience in the telecommunications and broadband network industries at a technical and commercial level to ensure technical and commercial direction. These projects have covered areas including the integration of satellite and terrestrial networks, 5G future satellite networks, modem/antenna design, cellular and Wi-Fi backhaul, mobility, and the network design for incubator services projects in East Africa offering Wi-Fi and multicast content delivery.

He was Hughes Network Systems Europe – Chief Engineer between 2001 and 2011 Prior to this he worked at HNS Europe in multiple other roles between 1996 and 2001. His career started at BT International initially helping to design and implement ground station systems before providing VSAT systems in the North Sea for Oil Companies and a VSAT network in southern Africa for a major UK bank.

Simon regularly presents and participates in discussion panels and has supported multiple technical papers whilst at Avanti. Simon is the Avanti representative on ESOA’s 5G Standards Working Group. He is an MIET.

Lorelien Hoet is EU Government Affairs Director at Microsoft, and deals notably with European telecommunications regulation.

She joined Microsoft in March 2018.  Prior to that, she worked as a legal executive at Proximus for 9 years, holding different positions including Head of Legal Consumer business – managing the legal support in the areas of consumer legislation, privacy law, IP law, criminal & security matters, etc.

Lorelien started her career as an attorney specialized in competition law, working in law firms in Brussels and Stockholm.  She was also active as Director Regulatory Affairs at Mobistar (Orange), in charge of the follow-up and application of telecom regulation and competition law files.

With a team based in New York City and London, but working around the world, Mr. Marsden’s practice focuses on the design of allocation mechanisms, including:

· auctions and trading design;
· bidding strategy; and
· related competition, pricing, regulatory and public policy.

His work spans multiple industries, including broadcasting, energy, mobile telephony, procurement, radio spectrum and transport.

Many of Mr. Marsden’s recent projects have involved auction design, software implementation and/or bidder support related to the current wave of spectrum awards worldwide. Since 1999, he has provided strategy advice to leading incumbent operators and aspiring entrants in more than 35 spectrum auctions. He was also a lead member of the design team that developed and implemented the combinatorial clock auction, the first practical multi-round package bid format for awarding radio spectrum.

Prior to joining NERA, Mr. Marsden spent 10 years as Director and Managing Consultant at DotEcon, where he was responsible for business development for auctions, public policy, and strategy projects. He managed the project teams supporting the UK regulator Ofcom on digital dividend policy and UK spectrum auctions between 2005 and 2010. He also completed major studies for the European Commission on the allocation of the digital dividend and on spectrum trading and liberalization.

Mr. Marsden presents and publishes frequently on the topics of auctions, the communications industry, and spectrum management and allocation. He is the co-author of a book on broadband regulation (Springer, 2005). He is also an advisor to Forum Global on Spectrum Management conferences in the Americas, Asia and Europe.

Professor Konstantinos Masselos has been appointed as the President of the Hellenic Telecommunications and Post Commission (EETT) in February 2018. He has been elected to serve as Vice-Chair of the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) for 2019.

In 2006 he joined University of Peloponnese, where he is currently a Professor in Computing Systems Design in the Department of Informatics and Telecommunications. Konstantinos served as Rector of the above university the period 2012-2017. During the period 2005 to 2008, he was Lecturer in digital systems at the Imperial College London. Also from 2010 to 2016 he served as Honorary Lecturer in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, at the Imperial College London. From 2001 to 2004 he joined Intracom Telecom SA in Greece.

Konstantinos has been involved in several research and development projects and has consulting experience in industry and public organizations. Since 2005 he has been regularly involved as an expert in different European Commission units. Additionally, Konstantinos was member of the Scientific Committee of European COoperation in Science and Technology (COST) organization from 2015 to 2017. He has authored more than 120 papers in international journals and conferences.

Daniel holds an Engineering degree from the Telecommunication School of Barcelona and a Master of Engineering in Electronic Systems from Dublin City University.

He has worked in the Spanish Communications Authority (CMT) since telephony markets were liberalized in Europe in 1998. From 2013, when the integrated authority CNMC was created as a merger of the Competition, Communications and Energy authorities, Daniel manages the Technical Unit for Electronic Communications of the Telecommunications & Audiovisual Division of CNMC.

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Stefan Zehle is the co-founder and CEO of Coleago. He has 29 years’ experience in telecoms consulting and as Director of a mobile operating company. He specialises in strategy and business planning, spectrum related issues such as spectrum policy, valuation and auctions, and telecoms regulatory topics. He gained his experience working in developed markets in Europe, Canada and the US and also in emerging markets in the Middle East, Africa, and the Far East.

As Director of Strategy, Marketing and Regulatory Affairs, Stefan launched the third mobile operator in Algeria. He developed the strategy, designed the organisation chart, recruited other Directors and 200 staff, built the Sales and Marketing department, oversaw the development of distribution and the offer, and managed the brand creation. He also successfully challenged the regulatory status quo, transforming the interconnect landscape in Algeria by introducing best practice interconnect agreements for the first time. He filed regulatory complaints, winning million dollar cost savings.

Stefan is also the co-author of “Guide to Business Planning”, published by “The Economist”, now in its second edition (“Outstanding Academic Title, 2009” awarded by Choice, the US academic reviewers) and is an experienced conference speaker, chairing the Ministerial Programme session at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Stefan holds an MBA (with distinction) awarded by the University of Westminster in 1991 and speaks French, English, and German.

Peng is an experienced public policy executive, with focus on telecom policy and advocacy, advising governments and telecom industry globally.

Before joining OneWeb, Peng was responsible for the GSMA’s global campaign ensuring optimal licensing conditions for mobile operators. He was leading a team of policy experts across Africa, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Middle-East to engage policy makers and regulators, and advocated for industry’s best practices on telecom policy. He also took part in many negotiations at ITU or regional level to gain access to additional spectrum for mobile broadband, and oversaw GSMA’s WRC-15 and WRC-19 campaign for APAC.

He recently obtained an Executive MBA at London Business School. He has an engineering background, and hold an MS in Telecommunication Systems from Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne.

Besides English, he speaks French and Mandarin fluently.

An engineer with broad experience in the telecoms and technology sectors, Andy has a particular interest in spectrum (auctions and valuation) and the impact of new technology (5G, AI, IoT and Big Data).

Andy spent 12 years at Vodafone, where he held various senior product development and corporate strategy roles. As Head of Spectrum, he was responsible for managing spectrum policy and auctions across the Vodafone Group. He led over twenty spectrum auctions around the world (including Turkey, Italy, Germany, India, Spain, Italy, Greece, Australia, Romania, NL and UK) from strategy/business case development to Plc. Board level sign-off and in-country implementation.

He was formerly a management consultant, has launched an internet payments and encryption company and worked as 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 a frequent invited speaker at international conferences.

Gilles Brégant graduated from Ecole Polytechnique (1986) and from Telecom ParisTech (1988). Following a 8-year-career at France Telecom research center, Gilles Brégant was appointed technical adviser to the Minister in charge of Research (1996-1997). He had to coordinate international projects and themes in relation with Information Technology. He then worked for the department of Trade and Industry as deputy director in charge of Prospective. He was appointed secretary general of the ministerial task force “Digital Economy” (2001-2005). He was then appointed Technical Director of Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel (the French Media Regulator) in 2005. Since 2011 Gilles Brégant is the CEO of ANFR. He was Chairman of the Radio Spectrum Policy Group (RSPG) from November 2012 through 2015.

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