The European 5G Conference 2023

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.

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.

Ilsa Godlovitch is an expert in EU telecoms regulation and policy with more than 15 years’ experience in the sector.

Prior to working for WIK in 2012, Ilsa was a Director at the European Competitive Telecommunications Association (ECTA), where she developed and presented recommendations on public policy and telecoms regulation to the European institutions on behalf of more than 100 operators. A key research project she led during this time was the ECTA Regulatory Scorecard, which benchmarked institutional and regulatory frameworks and market outcomes for telecoms across 22 European countries.

Prior to ECTA, Ilsa was EU Affairs Director at Cable & Wireless and also supported C&W’s integrated incumbent fixed and mobile telecoms businesses internationally during a period of widespread market liberalisation.

From 1998-2002, Ilsa was senior policy advisor at the UK telecoms regulator Oftel. During that period she was responsible for Oftel’s first analysis of the broadband market, which led to the liberalisation of broadband Internet services through unbundling of the local loop. She was also responsible, together with the Ministry for trade and industry, for developing policy and negotiating on behalf of the UK Government on the 2001 EU Unbundling Regulation and 2003 EU Telecoms Framework.

Ilsa has an MA in classics from Oxford University and studied postgraduate economics at London University.

Carlota Reyners Fontana is Head of Unit of the Electronic Communications Policy unit in DG Connect at the European Commission. The unit is in charge of developing policy and regulatory initiatives in the field of Electronic Communications. The unit is actively involved in shaping the future electronic communications agenda. Previously Carlota has been leading the unit for Investments in High Capacity Networks (including developing the policy on Connecting Europe Facility and the WiFi4EU voucher scheme). Until December 2017, Carlota was Deputy Head of the Radio Spectrum Policy unit from where she led the proposals and the negotiations of the access regulation, spectrum and universal service of the European Electronic Communications Code. In 2012 – 2014, she was Member of cabinet of Vice-President Neelie Kroes, Commissioner responsible for Digital Agenda under the Barroso II Commission. She has previously worked in the Commission’s Competition Directorate General as well as a competition lawyer in a leading European telecommunications company and a Brussels based international law firm. She holds a law degree from Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and a Master in European law from the Université Libre de Bruxelles.

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.

The Luxembourg-based satellite operator on public affairs and regulatory matters with the European Union (EU), the CEPT, the Council of Europe and the ITU, under the responsibility of the SES General Counsel. He‘s now responsible for SES regulatory affairs (advocacy and licensing) in Europe, Africa and Middle East.
Cécil looks back at more than 20 years of experience in dealing with regulatory affairs, specialised in ICT regulations for media and telecommunications. His dedicated expertise covers the supervision and impact of telecoms legislations and spectrum policies, in the context of increased liberalisation in radio frequency management and usage.
Cécil has been the chairperson of the working group on regulation in ESOA (EMEA Satellite Operators Association) for several years. In this capacity, he represents the satellite sector for the development of electronic communications regulation in Europe, Africa and Middle East, and he defends the interests of the space industry in multilateral and bilateral trade negotiations between the EU and the rest of the world.
As an active member of the Global VSAT Forum (GVF), Cécil Ameil is also contributing to the coordination of the satellite sector‘s efforts to defend access to and usage of essential radio spectrum at regional and ITU levels (including for WRCs).
A French national living in Belgium for years, Cécil is married and the father of 3 boys. He performs theatre and music as amateur.

Clément Perarnaud is a Research fellow in the Global Governance, Regulation, Innovation, Digital Economy (GRID) unit at CEPS. He is also an associate researcher at the Centre on Digitalisation, Democracy and Innovation (CD2I-VUB) in Brussels and a member of the working group on internet governance of the Center Internet et Société (CIS-CNRS, Paris).

Expert in negotiation processes, EU governance and digital policy-making with over ten years of professional experience, Clément has provided research and advisory services to various research institutions and universities. 

As a Ph.D. candidate in political science at the University Pompeu Fabra, Clément successfully carried out a research project focusing on the determinants of EU Member States’ influence in negotiations of the Council of the EU. This research investigated the informal processes by which member states and EU institutions formulate and advance political preferences at the European level. The research outputs of this project have been published in leading academic journals such as the Internet Policy Review and the Journal of European Public Policy.

He has extensive experience in data collection and analysis across EU countries, including conducting interviews and survey. As part of his Ph.D. thesis, he conducted more than 140 semi-structured interviews with EU negotiators and Member States’ diplomats in Brussels.

Previously as a scientific coordinator of a French research institute in Tunisia between 2014 and 2016, Clément also gained extensive experience in designing and managing EU-funded research projects, having directly contributed to a successful ERC Advanced Grant application (TARICA) and H2020 project (EUNPACK).

Mother tongue French, he is fluent in English and Spanish. 

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.

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.

David is a Partner in Analysys Mason’s London office. Since joining the firm in 2004, he has advised clients on cutting-edge topics including public policy, economic regulation, corporate strategy, due diligence and corporate finance. He has worked in over 30 countries across the world – previously based in our offices in Singapore and Milan, he continues to serve clients worldwide.

David also leads our internet initiative. In this role, one of his key areas of interest is the convergence of, and interactions between, the online world, telecoms networks and media content. He leads engagements with internet companies and policy makers on fast-moving, complex topics at the interface of technology, media and telecoms.

David is a graduate from Télécom Paris (France), and obtained a Diploma in Management Studies from Imperial College London (UK).

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.

Miguel González-Sancho is Head of the Unit “Cybersecurity Technology and Capacity Building” at the European Commission and interim Executive Director of the “European Cybersecurity Competence Centre”. He is mainly responsible for EU funding on cybersecurity research and deployment, EU policy on 5G and supply chain cybersecurity, cybersecurity certification, EU policy on cyber threat detection and response, and relations with the European Cybersecurity Agency-ENISA.

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.

Lara Connaughton leads the sustainability work at ComReg, the Irish Commission for Communications Regulation, as part of the International Unit. She is also a lead drafter of the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) Working Group for environmental sustainability, and the Irish delegate for the OECD Working Party on Communication Infrastructure and Services Policy (WPCISP). Prior to joining ComReg, she was a research analyst at the EU institution, ECA, in Luxembourg and previously worked in investor relations at Blackstone in London. Lara is a Schwarzman Scholar with a masters in Global Affairs from Tsinghua University, Beijing.

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.

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.

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.

Bart is Head of Sector in the EIC Pathfinder Unit in the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA) since 2021. After Project Officer positions in the Security and Trust Unit and Photonics Unit in DG CONNECT, he was seconded to the Research Executive Agency (REA) in 2017 as Head of Sector in the Future and Emerging Technologies Unit. Before joining the European Commission in 2005 he has occupied several engineering and managerial positions in the mobile operator sector in network engineering and security. He holds engineering and doctoral degrees from Gent University, Belgium.

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.

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.

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.

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.

More information available shortly.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Guillaume is a Public Policy Manager in Facebook’s Connectivity & Access group focusing on global spectrum policy issues. Guillaume is focusing on how different technologies like 5G, WiFi and satellites can help solve the world’s connectivity challenges. Guillaume has more than 10 years of experience in the spectrum management arena, working previously at Airbus and Qualcomm. Guillaume received a PhD from Victoria University (Melbourne, Australia) and an Engineering Degree from Telecom Paris (Paris, France).

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.

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.

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.