Speaker Biographies

Keynote speakers

Speakers

Tariq Al-Awadhi

Chairman, Arab Spectrum Management Group (ASMG)

Mr. Tariq Al-Awadhi is the Executive Director Spectrum Affairs in the Telecommunication Regulatory Authority.

Mr. Al Awadhi has 17 years of experience in spectrum management. He is the Chairman of the Arab Spectrum Management Group and has been the head of the delegations of the UAE to various international meetings and conferences and in 2012 he had been elected to chair the World Radiocommunication Conference 2012 (WRC-12).

His achievements in the field of spectrum management have earned him accolades from his contemporaries and the TRA. His professional acumen has further been groomed through leadership and excellence programs.

Abdoulkarim Soumaila

President, African Group for the Preparation of WRC-15

Mr. Abdoulkarim Soumaila is the current Secretary General of the African Telecommunications Union (ATU) since January 2011, having been elected at an Ordinary Session of ATU plenipotentiary Conference held in Brazzaville - Congo, in September 2010. He is leading the continental body entrusted with building consensus within African countries and coordinating African Common Proposals in international fora. Prior to his election as the Secretary General of ATU, he was the Director of Information Technologies at the Ministry of Communication, New Information Technologies and Culture in Niger from 2007 to 2010.

Mr. Soumaila in his 20 years as a Telecommunication expert and professional, has acquired a solid experience in Management of Telecommunication networks and services development strategy and has contributed immensely to the implementation of sectorial policies and innovative investment projects in several African countries. He has also diligently managed the affairs of the Union for the period he has been the Secretary General.

Mr. Soumaila holds a Master of science in Operational Telecommunications from the University of Coventry (UK) and Telecommunications Application Diploma from National Institute of Posts and Telecommunication in Rabat (Morocco).

Mindel de la Torre

Chief of the International Bureau , Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

Since October 2009, Mindel De La Torre has been Chief of the International Bureau at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). In that role, she leads the FCC’s efforts internationally – both on a bilateral and multilateral basis. She oversees the International Bureau’s functions with regard to licensing of international and domestic satellites, international long distance, international broadcast stations, and submarine cables. Ms. De La Torre was previously at the FCC between 1994-1998 as Deputy Chief of the Telecommunications Division of the International Bureau.

Before returning to the FCC, she was president of the Telecommunications Management Group, Inc. (TMG), a consulting firm in the Washington DC area. Her work at TMG included advising businesses, international organizations, and regulators on issues relevant to liberalization and commercialization of the telecommunications sector. Ms. De La Torre managed a variety of teams responsible for telecommunications projects, including advising telecommunications agencies in Latin America, Africa and the Middle East regarding key restructuring and regulatory issues, redrafting and updating telecommunications laws and involvement in third generation mobile issues.

She has been a member of various U.S. delegations to ITU conferences, such as the
World Conference on International Telecommunications, World Radiocommunication Conferences, World Telecommunication Development Conferences, and Plenipotentiary Conferences. She has also participated actively in regional telecommunications organizations, such as CITEL and APEC.

Ms. De La Torre also worked at the Department of Commerce – for over four years at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and for three years in the General Counsel’s office.

Ms. De La Torre has a B.A. from Vanderbilt University and a J.D. from the University of Texas. She is a member of the Texas bar and the Federal Communications Bar Association. Having lived overseas most of her life, she speaks fluent Portuguese, French, and Spanish and is proficient in Italian.

Azdine El Mountassir Billah

Director General, ANRT

Azzedine El Mountassir Billah, born May 26, 1957, is the Director General of the National Telecommunications Regulatory Agency.

He holds an engineering degree from the Superior National School of Telecommunications in Paris in 1983 and a Masters in Electrical Engineering and Automation Electronics from the University Paul Sabatier in Toulouse in 1981.

El Mountassir Billah worked from 1983-1985 as an engineer for Studies in the Computer Science Department of the Royal Air Morocco and then as Senior Consultant at French consultancy firm Sema Group before being central director at Crédit Immobilier et Hotelier from 1986-1998.

Director-General of Interbank 1998-2000, he served in 2001 as General Manager of the operator Morocco Telecommerce. He was also a member of the Board of the General Confederation of Enterprises of Morocco in 2006.

Elsayed Azzouz

Sector Head, Radio Spectrum Management and Planning Representative, National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA), Egypt

Dr. El Sayed Azzouz is the head of spectrum management at National Telecom Regulatory Authority of Egypt (NTRA)and Assistance Professor at the Military Technical College (MTC). He has participated in many national activities such as 3rd Mobile Operator to Egyptian market, VSAT Licenses, and preparing the Egyptian frequency allocation table and chart. At the international level, he is the vice chairman of the Arab Spectrum Management Group (ASMG), ITU-R Study Group 1, and ITU-R JTG 4-5-6-7. He has also participated in several international meetings including WRC-07, WRC-12, and RRC-06.

Dr. Azzouz is an Assistance Professor in Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the Military Technical College (MTC). He got a B. Sc. in Electronic and Electrical Engineering (With Grade Excellent) from the MTC in1984, M. Sc. in Electronic and Electrical Engineering from MTC in 1992, and Ph.D. in Electronic and Electrical Engineering from Strathclyde University in 1996. Dr. Azzouz has published tens of papers in journals and conferences. In addition, he has published a book named "Automatic modulation recognition of communication signals” in 1996. Moreover, he was awarded the Mountbatten Premium Prize from IEE Society in 198.

Adrian Scrase

CTO, ETSI

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

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

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

Per Christensen

Director, European Communications Office

Per Christensen has been Director of the European Communications Office (ECO) since April 2015. The ECO is the permanent office of the CEPT, a body of national regulators from 48 European Countries which cooperate on a range of issues, and particularly in harmonisation measures in the management of radio spectrum.

Previous to taking up his duties at the ECO Mr. Christensen was Head of the Frequency Management and Technical Division in the Danish Business Authority and has extensive management and policy experience in national and international spectrum management.

From 2001 to 2007 he was Vice Chairman of the CEPT’s Electronic Communications Committee and for many years he has contributed actively in the electronic communications policy work of CEPT, the EU and ITU as a representative of Denmark.

Val Jervis

Principal Consultant , Plum Consulting

Val Jervis is a Principal Consultant at Plum Consulting and has over thirty five years industrial and regulatory experience relating to radio communications. This includes eight years in senior roles directly involved in the licensing and regulation of fixed and mobile telecommunication services within the UK Radiocommunications Agency (RA) and the Office of Telecommunications (Oftel) – now Ofcom – in the UK. During this time she led UK delegations at meetings of ITU, CEPT and ETSI and attended the World Radio Conference as long ago as 1997. Val has provided regulatory and technical support to a wide range of clients located around the World and her recent projects have involved providing advice on future use of the UHF bands for private mobile radio to clients in Europe and Asia Pacific, potential for release of spectrum for deployment of IMT in frequency bands above 2 GHz in Europe and exploring the potential to release further spectrum through the introduction of Digital Terrestrial TV and the switch-over from analogue in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Val has an honours degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering and is a Chartered Engineer / Member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology.

Fabien Migneret

Senior Manager, Government Affairs Middle East North Africa , Qualcomm

Fabien Migneret serves as Senior Manager of Government Affairs Middle East and North Africa for Qualcomm. Fabien is currently based in Qualcomm office in Dubai to develop and implement Qualcomm’s spectrum and public policies in the region.

He has more than a decade of experience in regulatory policies within multinational companies, trade associations and international organisations of the telecommunication sector. Prior joining Qualcomm in 2012, he was in charge of the Government Affairs in Europe for Huawei in 2011/2012 and for Orange from 2002 to 2011 where he coordinated spectrum strategies and positions across the operator businesses footprint.

Fabien holds 2 master’s degrees from ESIEA and ENST Paris in wireless communications as well as in electronic and computer sciences.

Daniel Hamedeh

Director, Spectrum Policy and Regulatory Affairs Middle East and North Africa, Motorola Solutions

A technology and regulatory executive with 18 years of experience across the Middle East and Africa having worked in both private and public sector and in the development of public policy for managing radio spectrum, a key asset for mobile and ICT development and for the protection of public safety.

As an advocate of future of public safety broadband communications, Daniel works closely with regulators and public safety and emergency communication agencies to develop policy decisions 'today' that allow for modernizing public safety and disaster relief readiness through advances in technology.

He is featured speaker at public events such as the CCME, LTE World Summit, IEEE COMSEC, and Mobile Broadband events on spectrum and technology regulatory policy issues.

Majed S. H. Al Onazi

Member, ITU Working Group , EMEA Satellite Operators Association (ESOA)

Eng. Majed Al Onazi is a seasoned executive in the area of Satellite telecommunications with
MSc degree in Microwave Engineering and Wireless Subsystems Design and holds Master’s
Certificate in Project Management. He has held a number of positions with regional
organizations mainly in the field of satellite communications. These different positions
contributed positively to his more than 15 years of experience.

Eng. Majed Al Onazi is the Director of Technical Planning and Development at Arabsat, prior to
that he served as the Project Manager for KACST (King Abdulaziz City for Science and
Technology, Riyadh‐KSA)) where his efforts were instrumental in Projects initiation and
planning, Frequency planning and satellite frequency coordination. Earlier, as project engineer
at KACST Eng. Al Onazi contributed in the Avionics Design, UHF / VHF Transmitter and Receiver
Design, Impedance Matching Networks Design and C‐Band Transmitter and Receiver Design.

Roberto Ercole

Senior Director, Long-Term Spectrum , GSMA

Mr Ercole leads the GSMA’s work with the ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R). He headed up the GSMA’s promotion campaigns at WRC-07 and WRC-12 to secure global spectrum for international mobile telecommunications (IMT) and specifically mobile broadband.

Prior to joining the GSMA in 2006, Mr Ercole worked as an independent consultant, advising on radio spectrum engineering issues and spectrum valuations. He previously worked for Oftel, the UK telecommunications competition regulator, for five years, focusing on spectrum competition issues. For two years, Mr Ercole worked for a GSM1800 operator in the UK as a spectrum engineer specialising in regulatory issues, and previously as a radio spectrum regulator in the UK for seven years.

Mr Ercole is a Chartered Engineer in Europe, specialising in mobile radio systems and radio spectrum regulation. He earned a degree in applied physics in 1988 and a master’s degree in electronic engineering in 1990. He also has a post-graduate certificate in EU and UK competition policy and law.

Reza Karimi

Principal Standards Strategist, Huawei Technologies

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

Steven Doiron

Head of Regulatory & Spectrum Affairs, Yahsat

Steven Doiron is the Head of Regulatory Affairs and Spectrum at Yahsat, the UAE based Satellite Communications Operator, a wholly owned company of Mubadala Development Company.

Steven joined Yahsat in 2015 to manage the Regulatory and Spectrum Affairs within the Strategy & Business Development Department.

Steven brings 24 years of experience in the Satellite and Spectrum field. He started his career as a Project manager in the Canadian Forces supervising the deployment of multiple military satellite networks. He then moved to Telesat Canada, Intelsat General, and later in 2003 worked in Hughes Network System (HNS).

His most recent position has been Senior Director-Regulatory Affairs at HNS. In that position Steven managed HNS’ orbital strategy in regards to its Ka-band satellites and earth stations.

Steven holds a Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering from McGill University and has continued his training in the Canadian Forces School of Communications and Electronics.

Stefan Apetrei

Deputy Director, Strategy & International Planning , Orange

Stefan Apetrei has been working with Orange for more than 8 years. He has been involved both in the operational side, managing various technical projects and trials, as well in the strategic aspects, like spectrum auctions and regulatory projects. In the last 2 years he has been acting as Deputy Director in the Spectrum Strategy & International Planning Team, being active mostly in ITU, ECC, GSMA , NGMN. Before working with Orange he has been a member of the Romanian regulator body. Stefan holds a degree in Electronics and Telecommunications and a Master in Digital Radio communications.

Sultan Al Balooshi

Engineer - Spectrum Policy, Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, UAE

Senior Engineer Spectrum Policy at the telecommunications Regulatory Authority of the United Arab Emirates with more than six years of professional work experience in ICT sector counting works on radiocommunication strategies and spectrum policies. In addition to various levels of participation at International Telecommunications Union’s conferences and meetings. Responsible for UAE preparations for World Radiocommunication Conference 2015 (WRC-15) and representing UAE in different GCC, Arab, International ICT and Spectrum related meetings. Chairman of Rapporteur Group for Computer Aided Techniques Spectrum Management Handbook at the ITU (2012-2014) and Chairman of Working Group 1 at the ASMG which is responsible for Mobile Broadband issues

Hervé Napoletano

Executive Vice President, ATDI

Marc Eschenburg

Senior Manager , Aetha Consulting

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

For the last years, Marc has been particularly active in the area of spectrum management, advising operators and regulators on issues such as spectrum valuation, spectrum strategy, auction support and spectrum pricing. His main area of expertise lies in the development of valuation models which cover all relevant areas of spectrum value. He has been involved in a number of recent spectrum award processes across Europe as he has supported spectrum managers and bidders in Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark, Hungary, Austria, Poland, Malta and Switzerland.

Prior to setting up Aetha, Marc was employed at Analysys Mason, another specialist telecommunications consultancy. He graduated from the University of Maastricht, with an MSc in Infonomics, a study assessing the economics of the information society.

Professer Mounir Ghogho

ICT Research Director , International University of Rabat

Mounir Ghogho received the PhD degree in 1997 from the National Polytechnic Institute of Toulouse, France. He was an EPSRC Research Fellow with the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow (Scotland), from September 1997 to November 2001. Since December 2001, he has been a faculty member with the school of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the University of Leeds, where he currently holds a Chair in Signal Processing and Communications. Since 2010, he has also been a Research Director at the International University of Rabat.

His research interests are in signal processing, wireless communication networks and big data analytics. He has published over 250 journal and conferences papers. He has supervised 30 PhD students. He was awarded the UK Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellowship in September 2000. He is one of the recipients of the internationally competitive 2013 IBM Faculty Award.

He is currently an Associate Editor of the IEEE Signal Processing magazine. In the past, he served as an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, the IEEE Signal Processing Letters, and the Elsevier Digital Signal Processing journal. He was/is an elected of many IEEE Signal Processing Society Technical Committees. He was the General Chair of the eleventh IEEE workshop on Signal Processing for Advanced Wireless Communications (SPAWC’2010), General Chair of the 21st edition of the European Signal Processing Conference (EUSIPCO 2013), the Technical co-Chair of the MIMO symposium of IWCMC 2007 and IWCMC 2008

Ebrahim Al Haddad

Regional Director, Arab Regional Office, ITU

Mr. Ebrahim Al Haddad comes with an experience in the telecom field that stretches over 25 years in the international arena as well as the private sector.
In 2002, Ebrahim joined the ITU and spent six and a half years between the headquarters in Geneva and the regional office in Cairo where he was the regional director.
In July 2008, Ebrahim joined a telecom consultancy group that provided consultancy services to governments, regulators and private sector entities in the Arab region.
He rejoined the ITU as the regional director of the Arab office in October 2011.
Ebrahim holds a Master’s degree in Information Analysis and Management from Bond University in Australia.

Philippe Aubineau

Counsellor for ITU-R Study Groups, Radiocommunications Bureau, 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, the Special Committee on regulatory and procedural matters 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. He was Executive Secretary of WRC-12. Philippe Aubineau graduated from the University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis.

Walid Sami

Senior Project Manager, Technology & Innovation, EBU

Dr. Walid SAMI is Senior Project Manager at the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), Geneva, with responsibility for co-coordinating studies on frequency planning and spectrum sharing issues. He represents EBU in number of European and International Forums dealing with Spectrum Managagement.

Prior to joining EBU, Dr. SAMI worked in spectrum management and frequency planning of Digital Broadcasting systems at Télédiffusion de France (TDF) and CSA (Conseil Supérieur de l'Audiovisuel) in France. Notable is his 7 years as head of Television Planning Department at the French Broadcasting Authority, where he was in charge of planning Digital Terrestrial Television in France.

Dr. SAMI received Electrical Engineering Degree from the Lebanese University in 1986 and a Doctorate in Physics from Supelec/Université de Paris Sud in 1991

Said Aljane

General Director, Topnet and Consultant, Arab States Broadcasting Union

A Consultant in frequency management and broadcasting and he participated with ASBU in many subjects as a member in different working groups dealing with broadcasting and frequency.

Up to July 2015 and for more than 4 years said was General Director of Topnet which is an ISP (Internet Service Provider) in Tunisia (more than 50% market share in Tunisian internet market)

Previously said was a CEO of the Tunisian National Broadcasting Company from 2005 to 2011 and he piloted the implementation of the national roadmap for digital TV (smooth transition)

Before, Said was the General Director of ANF (Agence Nationale des Fréquences) which in charge of the frequency management in Tunisia from 2004 to 2005

Said was also technical director of the Tunisia Radio Television Establishment (ERTT) from 1996 to 2004

Said occupied a different positions as a Director in the Ministry of Telecommunication before the privatization of the telecommunication sector

Said in his 31 years as a telecommunication engineer, has acquired a large experience in a different component of the telecommunication /ICT fields (technical, content, regulation, business, policy, change etc…)

Said graduated from “Ecole Nationale d’Ingénieur de Sfax / TUNISIA " in 1981 as a principal engineer

Nasser Kettani

MEA - CTO, Microsoft

Nasser Kettani is graduated from French Orsay University, in Computer Engineering and Cognitive Science. He has over than 25 years of experience in the IT and software industry working for leading IT companies including Rational Software, IBM and Microsoft. He spent most of his career in Europe. His background includes Software Design and Development, Project Management, Consulting, International Standardization, Sales and Marketing, and Technology Leadership.

In 2005, Nasser Kettani joined Microsoft where he held various positions. As the MEA Chief Technology Officer, Nasser supports and advises Governments, Customers and Partners, as they assess the impact of major technology shifts and as they build national ICT policies, strategies, frameworks and regulations that allow them to make the best out of these major ICT developments. His areas of expertise spans, amongst other things, Cyber Security, Cloud Computing, Accessibility, Big Data, Data Privacy, Interoperability, Standards, e-Government, e-Education, Internet Governance, Innovation, …

Shiv Bakhshi

VP, Industry Relations, Group Function Technology, Ericsson

Shiv K. Bakhshi, Ph.D., is Vice President, Industry Relations in Group Function Technology at Ericsson. He is charged with the responsibility of articulating technology and policy strategies for Africa and the Middle East, and works closely with industry and policy leaders in those regions.

A recognized expert in mobile technology, policy and markets, Dr. Bakhshi is a strong believer in the role mobile broadband can play in economic development and in helping unleash the digital vitalities of the peoples in emerging economies.

Earlier, as an industry analyst and consultant, Dr. Bakhshi headed the worldwide mobile network and device practices for a leading research and advisory firm for several years. A frequent speaker at industry and academic conferences, he has presented on a broad range of topics pertaining to the structural transformation of the mobile industry.

Dr. Bakhshi started his career as a journalist in India. Later, as an academic, he taught international telecom policy and strategy, and directed graduate and doctoral research, at the University of Kentucky.

A political economist by training, he has a bachelor’s in Economics from Calcutta University. He earned his master’s as well as his doctorate in Communication from The Ohio State University.

Lasse Wieweg

Director, Government and Industry Relations, Ericsson

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

Abdulhadi AbouAlmal

Ag. Dir. /RAT, TS & SM, , Etisalat

Dr. Abdulhadi AbouAlmal has been with the Emirates Telecommunication Corporation, ETISALAT UAE, since 2008 as Manager of Wireless Networks Planning and he is currently the section head of Radio Access Transformation, Technology Standardization and Spectrum Management. He used to be the coordinator of ETISALAT, UAE, and Arab Spectrum Management Group in major world events and conferences of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and 3GPP Standardization Organization. He has worked on a wide variety of projects in the areas of wireless networks design, RF planning, Radio Access Technologies (RAT) evaluation and development (e.g. for 5G and IoT/M2M), cost modeling of telecom services and networks, offloading of legacy systems, network modernization and spectrum management. Before 2008, he joined the Research Unit of Sharjah University and the Schools of Engineering in AUS and AUST universities, as Research and Teaching Assistant. He received Master’s degree in Engineering Systems Management from American University of Sharjah, UAE, and he pursued the PhD degree in wireless communication at the University of Bradford, U.K. He is the author and co-author of many journal and conference papers and has research interests in modeling and optimization of wireless networks deployment and wave propagation and new RAT development for 5G and IoT/M2M.