Speaker Biographies

Speakers

Moderators

Roberto Viola

Director General, DG CONNECT, European Commission

Roberto Viola holds a Doctor degree in Electronic Engineering (Dr. Eng.) and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA).
He is Deputy Director General of DG CONNECT, in the European Commission, with responsibilities for Electronic Communications Networks and Services Directorate, Cooperation Directorate - International and Inter-institutional relations, Stakeholders cooperation, Digital Economy & Coordination Directorate – Digital Single Market, Copyright, Innovations and Knowledge Base, Media & Data Directorate.
From 2005 to 2012, he was the Secretary General in charge of managing AGCOM (Italian media and telecom regulator).
He was Chairman of the European Radio Spectrum Policy group (RSPG) from 2012 to 2013, and Deputy Chairman in 2011 and Chairman in 2010.
He was member of the BEREC Board (Body of European Telecom Regulators).
He was Chairman of the European Regulatory Group (ERG) in 2007.
He served as Director of Regulation Department and Technical Director in AGCOM from 1999 to 2004, in charge of inter alia, regulation in terrestrial, cable and satellite television, frequency planning, access and interconnection of communication services, cost accounting and tariff in telecommunication and broadcasting services.
From 1985-1999 he served in various positions as a staff member of the European Space Agency (ESA) in particular, he has been Head of Telecommunication and Broadcasting Satellite Services.

Philip Marnick

Chair, Radio Spectrum Policy Group; & Group Director, Spectrum, Ofcom

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

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

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

Sebastien Soriano

Chair, BEREC

Sébastien Soriano is Chairman of Arcep, the French national regulatory authority for telecoms and posts (Autorité de régulation des communications électroniques et des postes).

He is also Chairman of BEREC 2017. BEREC is the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications, bringing together 39 regulatory authorities from EU Member States, candidate countries as well as EFTA members. He was Vice-Chairman of BEREC in 2016.

Born in 1975, Sébastien Soriano holds Master's degrees in Science from the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris, and in Telecom Engineering from Telecom ParisTech, as well as a Bachelor of Public Administration from Sorbonne University in Paris.

He has spent most of his career in digital policies, competition and telecoms regulation areas. He started his career at the French Competition Authority, between 2001 and 2004, as a case handler and then as Deputy General Rapporteur, between 2009 and 2012. Between 2004 and 2009, he held various positions at Arcep, including Head of the Mobile market Unit and Director of Broadband market. From 2012 through 2014, he was Chief of Staff of Mrs. Fleur Pellerin, French Minister for SMEs, Innovation and Digital economy. Prior to his appointment as Chairman of Arcep, he was Special Advisor to the French Minister for Culture and Communication.

Sébastien Soriano published several papers on the challenges of regulators and law makers in the digital era. He also teaches regulation and digital economy in the Master's programme in Public Policy at SciencesPo School of Public Affairs in Paris.

Francois Rancy

Director, BR, ITU

Mr François Rancy was elected Director of the ITU Radiocommunication Bureau by the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference 2010 (PP-10) in Guadalajara, Mexico. He took office on 1 January 2011. He was confirmed in a second term by the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference 2014 (PP-14) in Busan, Republic of Korea.
François Rancy is an engineer, a graduate of the École Polytechnique (1977) and the École Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications (Paris, 1979).
From 1979 to 1997, he worked as systems engineer and subsequently Head of Department in France Télécom's research laboratories, where he was in charge of studies on national and international satellite systems and activities relating to the spectrum and the regulation of satellite systems. As from 1992, his responsibilities expanded to cover the entire radiocommunication sphere.
From 1997 to 2004, he was Director of Spectrum Planning and International Affairs at the National Frequency Agency (ANFR).
From 2004 to 2010, he was Director-General of ANFR, responsible for frequency management in France.
In October 2010, he was elected Director, BR by the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference.
At the international level, he led the coordination of European delegations (CEPT) at WRC-03 and chaired the European Union group on spectrum management policy (RSPG) in 2007. He chaired the ITU–R Special Committee on Regulatory and Procedural Matters from 1997 to 2003, and the World Radiocommunication Conference in 2007.
François Rancy has been awarded the ITU Silver Medal (2007) and the titles of Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur (1998) and Ordre national du mérite (1992).

Julius Knapp

Chief, Office of Engineering and Technology, FCC

Julius Knapp is Chief of the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology (OET), which is the Commission’s primary resource for engineering expertise and provides technical support to the Chairman, Commissioners and FCC Bureaus and Offices.

Mr Knapp has been with the FCC for 41 years and became Chief of OET in 2006. He previously served as a Deputy Chief of OET from 2002 - 2006. Prior to that he was the Chief of the Policy & Rules Division where he was responsible for FCC frequency allocation proceedings and for proceedings amending the FCC rules for radio frequency devices. Mr Knapp was Chief of the FCC Laboratory from 1994 – 1997 where he was responsible for the FCC’s equipment authorization programme and technical analyses.

He has received the FCC’s Silver and Gold medal awards for distinguished service at the Commission. He was the 2001 recipient of the Eugene C. Bowler award for exceptional professionalism and dedication to public service and the 2010 recipient of the Federal Communications Bar Association Excellence in Government Service Award and the recipient of the WCAI 2010 government Leadership award. In 2013 he received the Presidential Distinguished Rank Award for exceptional achievement in the career Senior Executive Service of the United States of America, as well as the 2014 Fellow Award from the National Spectrum Management Association.

Mr Knapp received a Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the City College of New York in 1974.

Gilles Bregant

Director General, ANFR

Born in Chambéry (France) in 1963, Gilles Brégant graduated from Ecole Polytechnique (1986) then from Telecom ParisTech (1988). Following a 7-year-career at France Telecom research center, Gilles Brégant led the transition project from “Minitel” electronic directory to its companion web site, www.pagesjaunes.fr. He was then 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. Gilles Brégant is the CEO of ANFR since 2011. He was elected President of RSPG in November 2011.

Andreas Geiss

Head of Unit, Radio Spectrum Policy, European Commission

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

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

Pilar del Castillo

MEP, Rapporteur for the Telecoms Package, European Parliament

Bio to be added shortly

Carlota Reyners-Fontana

Deputy Head of Unit, Radio Spectrum Unit, European Commission

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

Eric Fournier

ECC Chairman, CEPT

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

Inge Hansen

Director of Regulatory Strategy , EE

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

Gerry Oberst

Senior Vice President, Global Regulatory & Governmental Affairs, SES

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

Stefan Zehle

CEO, Coleago Consulting

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

Jeppe Jepsen

Director of Broadband Spectrum, TCCA

Jeppe has held several positions in the TETRA and Critical Communication Association right from the beginning in 1995 – he is a Director in Association and member of the Board. Jeppe is also the elected Chairman of PSC-Europe’s Spectrum group.

Jeppe’s host organisation is Motorola Solutions and since joining Motorola in 1979 he has been involved in System Engineering, International Business, Marketing and Sales. His international experience ranges from the Middle East, the Far East and Latin America. He has been based in Chicago, Copenhagen and now Brussels.

His specialty is Public Safety; an area where he has spend the last 30 years of his career.
Jeppe holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering.

Meta Pavsek Taskov

Head of Mobile Communication, Agency for Communication Networks and Services of the republic of Slovenia

Meta Pavšek Taškov received her BSEE and MSEE from University of Ljubljana, Slovenia in 1990 and 1993 respectively. First employment was 1989 in mixed research and development laboratory located at Jožef Stefan Institute in Ljubljana as member of industry and employee of Iskra Hipot, Šentjernej. Since 1995 she was employed at AKOS (Agency for communication networks and services of the Republic of Slovenia)
which was at the time named as URST (Slovene Telecommunications Administration) in the RF Spectrum management department. 2012 and 2013 she was leading LTE project and was a Deputy of Tender Commission’s chairperson for 2014 Auction of frequency bands 800/900/1800/2100/2600 MHz. She attended the World Radio Conference WRC- 15 in November 2015 as a Deputy Head of Delegation. Since 2016 she is head of Mobile department in AKOS leading preparation for 700 MHz multiband Auction and 5G initiative project.

Richard Marsden

Senior Vice President, NERA Economic Consulting

Senior Vice President, NERA Economic Consulting

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.

David Salant

Visiting Professor, Toulouse School of Economics & Founder of Auction Technologies

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

Jakob Blaavand

Senior Consultant, Smith Institute

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

Chris Woolford

Director of International Spectrum Policy, Ofcom

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

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

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

Lawrence M Ausubel

Chairman, Power Auctions; & Professor of Economics, Univerisity of Maryland

Larry Ausubel is Professor of Economics at the University of Maryland. He is one of the world’s leading experts on spectrum auctions, and he has also published widely on bargaining, industrial organization, and financial markets. He is the author of several highly-cited academic articles on efficient auction design, one of which proposed a format that has become known as the “Ausubel auction” and another of which laid the foundation for the combinatorial clock auction (CCA). Recently, he served as a key member of the design team for the Federal Communications Commission’s Incentive Auction.

In addition to his academic work, Professor Ausubel is founder and chairman of Power Auctions LLC (www.powerauctions.com), an international provider of auction design, auction software, and bidding advice. Power Auctions works extensively in the spectrum area and has completed the following engagements:

• for the United States FCC, Power Auctions performed important parts of the design of the recent Incentive Auction and implemented this complex spectrum auction on the PowerAuctions™ platform;
• for Industry Canada, Power Auctions designed and implemented the 700 MHz and 2500 MHz spectrum auctions;
• for the Australian Communications and Media Authority, Power Auctions designed and implemented the Australian Digital Dividend Auction and the 1800 MHz Regional Auction; and
• for wireless operators in Europe, Asia and Africa, Power Auctions has provided expert bidding advice in more than 15 spectrum auctions.

Power Auctions has also designed and implemented auctions in the energy and resource sectors throughout Europe, North America, South America and Africa.

Before joining the University of Maryland faculty, Professor Ausubel taught at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. He received his A.B. in Mathematics from Princeton University, his M.S. in Mathematics from Stanford University, his M.L.S. in Legal Studies from Stanford University, and his Ph.D. in Economics from Stanford University.

Simon Fell

Director of Technology & Innovation, EBU

Mr Fell has more than 35 years’ experience in senior broadcasting technology roles, including at British broadcaster ITV, where he was Director of Future Technologies (2008-2009) and Controller of Emerging Technologies (2004-2006).

From 1991-2004 Mr Fell worked for Carlton Television, the ITV franchise holder for the London region, where he held several executive roles linked to operations and emerging technologies.

Mr Fell is the current Chairman of the Technical Council at the Digital Television Group, the industry association for digital television in the UK. His career has already brought him into contact with the EBU, where he sat on the Technical Committee on behalf of UK broadcasters between 2006 and 2009.

Mr. Fell is responsible for steering EBU Technology & Innovation in its mission of being an indispensable partner to EBU Members, driving media innovation and integration, setting standards and defining and sharing best practices in media production and delivery. His role also involves driving business development for the EBU.

Y.-P. Eric Wang

Senior Specialist, Ericsson Research

Y.-P. Eric Wang is a Principal Researcher at Ericsson Research, Santa Clara, California. He received the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1995. He was a member of the executive committee of the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society and served as the society's Secretary from 2001 to 2002, and an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology from 2003 to 2007. At Ericsson Research, he is currently a Technical Coordinator for research and standardization activities related to IoT connectivity. Dr. Wang was a co-recipient of Ericsson's Inventors of the Year award in 2006. He has contributed to more than 100 U.S. patents and more than 50 IEEE articles in the area of wireless communications.

Matthew Webb

Rapporteur for NB IoT, 3GPP RAN

Matthew Webb joined Huawei Technologies in 2014, where he is a RAN and RAN1 expert specializing in the standardization of M2M/IoT topics, primarily in the physical layer. Matthew has been rapporteur of NB-IoT in 3GPP RAN since work began in Release 13 (2015), in which role he is responsible for the planning, coordination and timely completion of the RAN standardization of NB-IoT, as well as leading the technical work and chairing meetings of NB-IoT in 3GPP RAN1. Before Huawei, he worked for Sony and Fujitsu in similar specialist areas from 2011-2014. From 2002-2011, he conducted academic research at the University of Bristol, UK, across a broad range of wireless communications topics encompassing information theory, radio channel measurement and modelling, chaotic communication systems, and MIMO.

Luigi Ardito

Director of Government Affairs, Qualcomm

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

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

Lars Backlund

Secretary General, Broadcast Networks Europe

Lars Backlund is the Secretary General of Broadcast Networks Europe (BNE). He also holds a position as Senior Vice President Public and Regulatory affairs at Teracom, Sweden
BNE is a trade organisation based in Brussels representing the commercial interests of Terrestrial Broadcast Network Operators in 22 European countries with regard to policy developments and regulatory intervention being undertaken by European Institutions and other organisations and stakeholders. This includes to secure long term availability of adequate spectrum for current and future developments of the terrestrial broadcast platforms and sustaining and nurturing the long-term market opportunity for the distribution of content and data via terrestrial broadcast networks.
Mr Backlund has a long professional background with the Swedish Space Corporation and as a representative of the Swedish Government on the communications satellite board of the European Space Agency. He has also been a consultant to the World Bank on various communications system study missions to South East Asia and Africa. After moving to Teracom (the Swedish operator of the TV and Radio terrestrial distribution networks), Mr Backlund has held positions in charge of international business development, strategic planning and regulatory affairs including responsibilities for liaison with Swedish Government Departments and Swedish National Regulatory Authorities.
Lars Backlund has a Master’s Degree in telecommunications and microwave engineering and also diplomas from executive programmes at the Swedish Institute of Management and from various courses at INSEAD.

Stephen Pentland

Group Public Policy Head of Spectrum, Vodafone Group

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

Janette Stewart

Principal, Analysys Mason

Janette Stewart is a Principal at Analysys Mason, who specialises in wireless technologies and radio spectrum issues. She has around 20 years’ experience in radio engineering, spectrum policy and spectrum management. She is based in Edinburgh. Janette began her career working for the UK spectrum regulator where she held various roles, latterly Senior Spectrum Engineer in the 3G Auction Team, where she was responsible for determining UK spectrum plans for the 3G licence award, interacting with CEPT and ITU working groups. Since joining Analysys Mason in 2001, her consulting experience includes researching market opportunities within the wireless sector, wireless network business planning, user requirement definition, spectrum strategy development and spectrum valuation. She has worked with a wide range of public and private sector clients including national regulators, fixed and mobile network operators, wireless industry trade associations and spectrum users.  Recent projects have included advising on digital TV switchover strategy, award of digital dividend spectrum, technology co-existence in 800 MHz spectrum and 2.6 GHz spectrum valuation. She co-authors Analysys Mason’s Spectrum Quarterly, a quarterly newsletter on spectrum-related market developments.

Jonas Karlsson

Chief Architect, Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB)

Mr Jonas Karlsson, Chief Architect at Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency Chief architect and IT-strategist at maintenance and development of secure and robust communication services section since 2014. Former Chairman of TCCA working group Operator and Users association 2 ½ year. Has a long experience from the Swedish Defense Forces working with command, control and communications systems.

Seppo Yrjölä

Principal Innovator , Nokia

Dr. Seppo Yrjölä is a passionate innovator with a background in research, strategy and business, Seppo Yrjölä is Sr. Principal Innovator at Nokia. Seppo has been with Nokia for 28 years. He incubates and steers opportunities externally with customers, partners and governments with the purpose of driving growth by innovating holistically from technology to business models. Previously as a head of wireless technology for the Networks division at Nokia, his role required him to look beyond the product roadmap and identify what new trends, technologies and tools were on the horizon, and determine and validate how those future opportunities fit into the Nokia pipeline. His current research is focused in the area of future radios with cognitive network business opportunities and potential disruptions as an important aspect to scout. He holds a M.Sc. degree in electrical engineering and a Doctoral degree in telecommunications from the University of Oulu. Seppo has been awarded over €10 million in competitive research funding as the lead investigator, authored more than 50 peer-reviewed publications, and holds several patents in the radio domain.

Javier Domínguez Lacasa

Head of Spectrum Policy, Telefónica

Javier Domínguez is Head of Spectrum Policy and Regulatory Intelligence in Telefonica’s Corporate Unit, where his current focus is on working with the technical and business development teams on developing the Company’s awareness and thinking around innovative spectrum allocation and assignment procedures.

Javier has an Economics and Legal background and has worked in Telefonica for the last 10 years, at local and corporate level and in different regulatory roles. He has participated in spectrum auctions and spectrum policy discussions in several European countries since 2011, and he has also been engaged on a wide range of other telecom policy issues, from international roaming to regulatory cost modelling of fixed and mobile networks. Prior to joining Telefónica he worked for Ericsson for 5 years.

Lasse Wieweg

Chair, Spectrum Group, GSA

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

Steven Doiron

Chair of ITU Working Group, ESOA

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.

Ulrich Rehfuess

Chair, Spectrum Working Group, DigitalEurope

Ulrich Rehfuess holds a diploma degree in Electrical Engineering of Technical University of Munich, Germany and one in Industrial Engineering of Fernuniversität Hagen, Germany. Of his more than 20 years of professional experience in Siemens, Nokia Siemens Networks and lately Nokia Networks, he spent more than 15 years in R&D, business strategy, system architecture and product management of mobile radio network systems covering GSM, EDGE, UMTS with HSPA, Flash OFDM, WiMAX, LTE and LTE Advanced. Starting June 2011, he assumed responsibility for spectrum policy and regulation within Nokia Networks' industry environment team. Ulrich Rehfuess is vice chair of the BITKOM Spectrum working group in Germany and chairs the DIGITALEUROPE spectrum working group in Brussels.

Oli Bird

Rapporteur for IoT, RSPG

Oli Bird is Head of International Policy at Ofcom, the UK communications regulator. He is responsible for Ofcom's European engagement particularly in the areas of spectrum and audio-visual regulation, and he advises Philip Marnick, Ofcom Group Director for Spectrum in his role as RSPG Chair. Oli has been co-rapporteur for the RSPG on IoT, leading the working group responsible for producing the RSPG's Opinion under the 2016/7 Work Programme.

Antonio Nicita

Commissioner of the Italian regulatory, AGCOM

Antonio Nicita is Commissioner of the Italian regulatory authority (AGCOM) and Professor of Economic Policy at the Department of Economics and Law at Sapienza University of Rome, has been Associate Professor of Economic Policy at the University of Siena, he was Visiting Fulbright Professor at Yale University. In 2005-06 he was a Non Governmental Adviser of International Competition Network (ICN) for the report on telecommunications sector. He is on the Board of Directors of the Italian Society of Law and Economics, European Association of Law and Economics and of the International Society for New Istitutional Economics (ISNIE). In 2006-07 he was an economic adviser to the Italian Minister of Communications and member of the Governamental Unit for the Improvement of Regulation. He was Economic Adviser for the 2009 OECD Regulatory Report on Italy.

Andy Hudson

Head of Technology Policy , GSMA

The GSMA represents the interests of nearly 800 of the world’s mobile operators as well as more than 200 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem. Andy has global responsibility for the regulatory and policy aspects of the GSMA’s range of technology programmes, including future networks, IoT and identity.

Previously, he was Director of Spectrum Policy at Ofcom for three years, where he led the Mobile Data Strategy, including the release and sharing of public sector spectrum for civil use, and the 2.3/3.4 GHz auction team. Before that, Andy spent 12 years at Vodafone, where he held various senior product development, corporate strategy and public policy roles. As Head of Spectrum Policy, he was responsible for managing spectrum policy and auctions across the Vodafone Group. He was frequently in Brussels and further afield supporting Vodafone’s local operating companies, and over four years he managed the acquisition or renewal of spectrum in over 20 countries for a total of €9.5bn.

In 2000, he was part of the senior management team which spun an internet payments and encryption company out of NatWest. He was formerly a management consultant and a research scientist at Sharp Laboratories of Europe and Sony Corporation, based in Japan. He has a doctorate in Engineering Science from Oxford University and an MBA. He is married with two boys (16 and 13) and lives in a small village close to Oxford.

Raoul Mallart

Chief Technology Officer, Sigfox

Raoul MALLART completed his PhD in Physics in 1991 while working at Philips Research where he was involved in the improvement of Medical Ultrasonic Imaging. In 1995 his research focus changed to Multimedia Systems, Internet and real-time 3D graphics. During this period, Raoul was involved in the standardization efforts that led to the definition of the MPEG-4 standard. From 1997 to 2000, Raoul was posted in Silicon Valley where he interacted with the start-up ecosystem working on a new paradigm for interactive TV leveraging both Internet and broadcast connectivity. Upon his return to Paris, he led a research department at Philips Research France involved in Multimedia applications over wireless networks. More recently, Raoul was leading the product innovation team of Philips Software (now part of NXP), a leading Independent Software Vendor that has shipped multimedia software of over one Billion mobile phones, then at ARCHOS, a French vendor of Android Tablets and Mobile phones. In 2014 Raoul joined SIGFOX to take in charge the Technology Innovation department.

Kalpak Gude

President, Dynamic Spectrum Alliance

Kalpak S. Gude is President of the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance, a global organization advocating for laws and regulations supporting more efficient and effective spectrum utilization through sharing. The DSA’s membership spans multinationals, SMEs, academic, research, and other organizations from around the world, all working to create innovative solutions to increase the amount of available spectrum to benefit consumers and businesses alike. Before joining the DSA, Mr. Gude was the Vice President Legal Regulatory at OneWeb, a low-earth-orbit satellite broadband provider seeking to bring internet connectivity to unserved and underserved regions of the world. Prior to this, Mr. Gude served in several senior positions at the Federal Communications Commission in Washington, D.C., overseeing complex regulatory issues in the Media and Wireline Competition Bureaus. Mr. Gude also served as Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at Intelsat, held various board positions in the satellite and telecommunications industry and was named a co-Satellite Executive of the Year 2007. He holds a J.D. from the Indiana University School of Law – Bloomington, and a B.S. Electrical Engineering from the Rochester Institute of Technology

Vincenzo Lobianco

Councilor for Technological Innovation, AGCOM

Vincenzo Lobianco is in AGCOM, the Italian NRA, from year 2000. Currently he is Chief Technology and Innovation Officer, reporting directly to the AGCOM board on technical and regulatory issues related to telecommunication infrastructure and radio spectrum.

Before holding the post of Chief Technology and Information Officer, Vincenzo Lobianco has been, from 2006 to 2014, Director of the Electronic Communication Network and Services Directorate of AGCOM charged, inter alia, for the preparation of the frequency and numbering assignment plans, for horizontal regulatory decisions, for the monitoring and the enforcement of AGCOM decisions, notably in the wholesale telecommunication markets, regulatory accounting systems of notified operators and dispute resolutions.

Vincenzo Lobianco represented Italy in the Radio Spectrum Policy Group of EU and in several international frequency coordination meetings.

Vincenzo Lobianco holds an MS in Electronic Engineering. Before joining AGCOM, he worked for the Ministry of Communication from 1985, where we was responsible for the management of the first Italian public packet network (ITAPAC) and for the national numbering plan. He also served as the national coordinator of ETSI (European Telecommunication Standard Institute) activities and as member of the ETSI Board (from 1999 to 2002). During years 1995-1998, he was seconded to the European Commission, where he worked as Project Officer of several projects, within the IDA Programme (Interchange of Data between Administration).

Alessandro Casagni

Vice Chair, Spectrum Group, GSA

Director, Wireless Regulatory Policy EMEA, managing the wireless regulation issues within Huawei Wireless Strategies & Business Development Department.
Alessandro holds a master degree in electronic engineering from Rome University.
During the period 2008 to 2010, Alessandro worked in Huawei LTE Product Line departments with special focus on the European regulation matters.
Prior to joining Huawei, Alessandro held several marketing and technical positions in Mediaset broadcasting company (2006 – 2007), Siemens mobile communications (2002 – 2006) and Accenture ICT consulting company (2000 – 2002).

Jean-Pierre Faisan

Head of Communications Working Group, Broadcast Networks Europe

Jean-Pierre Faisan is spectrum policy advisor for TDF, and has been a Board Member of the association Broadcast Networks Europe since 2013.
A graduate from Ecole Polytechnique and Telecom Paris-Tech, he has more than 29 years of experience in the telecommunications industry where he held a series of engineering then managing positions at Intelsat, CCETT (now Orange Labs), Sofratev and Gobé and TDF. He is also the founder and managing partner of Leader Wave, a consulting company specialized on spectrum policy.

Roberto Rodriguez Dorrego

Head of Spectrum Strategy, Telefónica

Roberto Rodriguez Dorrego is Head of Spectrum Strategy in Telefonica Group, where he is responsible for the supervision of the spectrum processes in Telefonica footprint: defining the spectrum strategy and policy, leading spectrum valuation, preparing bidding strategy and auction governance.

He has coordinated and been involved in the work towards the spectrum auctions in Spain 2016 (sealed bid), Mexico 2016 (CCA), Peru 2016 & 2013 (sealed bid), Germany 2015 (SMRA), Brazil 2014 (Sequential Ascending), Argentina 2014, Chile 2013 (sealed bid/beauty contest) including spectrum valuation, auction rules, governance and bidding strategy. He also defines, in coordination with regulatory and technology teams, Telefonica’s Spectrum Policy positions. He has recently been appointed as Chairman of the GSMA’s Spectrum Strategy Management Group.

Mr, Rodriguez has participated actively in the ITU work to identify new spectrum for mobile services in WRC-15, WRC-12, and WRC-07, as well as in WP5D, JTG-4567, SG5 and CEPT work. He has been working in Spectrum for more than 20 years, mainly in the areas of Spectrum Policy, Spectrum Strategy, Spectrum Auctions Strategy and Spectrum Technology. Previously he held several positions in network strategy, spectrum technology and spectrum engineering.

Valeria Petrini

Researcher, Fondazione Ugo Bordoni

Valeria Petrini received the PhD in Telecommunications Engineering in 2013. Her PhD studies were focused on cognitive radio applications for efficient use of spectrum. During her PhD she spent six months at Ofcom UK.
Since 2013 she has been a researcher at Fondazione Ugo Bordoni. The main areas of research in which she operates are focused on projects related to the efficient use of the spectrum for 5G networks. In particular she works on the development of software tools for the technical analysis of the shared access to the spectrum. She is involved as well in national and international projects on coexistence issues between different systems from a spectrum sharing point of view.
She actively participate in the ECC PT1 activities and currently she is the convener of the ECC PT1 Correspondence Group for sharing and compatibility studies between Fixed Links and IMT-2020 systems in the 26 GHz band.
Concerning European research programs, she follows the COST Actions in mobile communications area as representative for Italy to the Management Committee for COST Action IRACON (Inclusive Radio Communication Networks for 5G and beyond).

Didier Chauveau

Deputy Director, Spectrum Planning and International Affairs Directorate, ANFR

Before joining ANFR, at mid 2007, M. Chauveau worked for ARCEP, the French regulator for Post and Electronic communications. Between 1999 and 2006, he has been member of the ETSI Board and, during 2 years, acting as vice chairman of ETSI Board.

M. Chauveau is involved in the development of national spectrum policy, planning and regulation and is a member of number of national committees, chairing few of them.
M. Chauveau chaired the CEPT ECC Project Team 1, the leading group in Europe for spectrum harmonization for mobile systems, from 2009 until mid-2016, and the ECC CPG Project Team D, acting for the preparation of the CEPT position on WRC15 AI 1.1 and 1.2.He is still involved in this PT in charge of 5G harmonisation in Europe and of the drafting of the CEPT position for WRC 19 AI 1.13 (IMT) among others. He has been head of national delegation at the ECC from 2007 to 2012. He is currently co-chair of the NATO CAP3 Civ-Mil in charge of drafting the NATO position for WRC19.

M. Chauveau is also deeply involved in European Spectrum Policy and framework. He developed as co-rapporteur the Opinions on the Future Challenges of Spectrum and on Telecom Framework Review. He is the national representative at the Radio Spectrum Committee (RSC).

Kumar Singarajah

Global Spectrum Regulatory Policy , ESOA

Kumar Singarajah is the Director, Regulatory Affairs and Business Development. He joined Avanti in January 2007 and is on the company’s senior management team. He is responsible for regulatory and associated government relations activities as well as certain business development and new space system development activities at Avanti. He holds a BSc in Electrical Engineering from Imperial College / London, an MSc in Mobile & Satellite Communications from University of Surrey and an MBA from the Open University. He has worked in senior positions in the space and telecommunications sectors for about 30 years including at Logica, SES, Inmarsat and ICO Global. Kumar is also a vice chair of the techUK/UKSpace Satellite Communications Committee.

Gunnar Hökmark

MEP, European Parliament

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

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

Rudiger Martin

Policy Officer, Radio Spectrum unit, DG CONNECT, European Commission

Bio to be added shortly

Johanne Lemay

Co- President, LYA

Johanne Lemay is Co-President of LYA. She is a recognized expert in telecommunications and broadcasting ranging from the development of strategy and business plans, to due diligence, market research, spectrum valuation, spectrum licensing and spectrum auctions.

Ms. Lemay is actively involved in consultations for the development of public policy in telecommunications and broadcasting. She has acted as an expert witness in regulatory proceedings on numerous occasions. Recent expert evidence mandates were focused on the evolution of television and over-the-top services, benchmarking investment in broadband infrastructure and regulatory framework for MVNOs.

Ms. Lemay’s international experience includes leading mandates on spectrum licensing and auctions as well as investment due diligence in mobile services and broadband networks in countries ranging from Europe, Latin America, Asia to the USA and Canada.

Ms. Lemay is co-leader of the development of the LYA Auction Platforms. She brings expertise in all types of auction formats from SMRA to Clock auctions including Combinatorial Clock Auctions (CCA) and the clock format of the USA Incentive Auction. Ms. Lemay has conducted spectrum license sales on behalf of clients. Ms. Lemay also delivers strategy seminars and auction workshops to both private and public clients including telecommunications regulatory agencies in Europe, Canada and the US.

Ms. Lemay holds an Engineering Physics Degree from Laval University (Quebec City) and an MBA from Concordia University (Montreal).

Philip Marnick

Chair, Radio Spectrum Policy Group; & Group Director, Spectrum, Ofcom

Bio to be added shortly

Gérard Pogorel

Professor of Economics and Management-Emeritus, Telecom Paris Tech

Gérard POGOREL is Professor of Economics and Management-Emeritus, Telecom ParisTech, France, and an independent international expert in telecommunications and the digital economy. Telecom ParisTech is a first-tier European Research and higher education institution. It encompasses all discipline areas, sciences, technologies, social sciences, of relevance to information and telecommunications technologies and the media.

Gérard POGOREL co-authored in 2014 a report to the Prime Minister of Italy assessing the investments by operators in NGAN networks in the EU Digital Agenda perspective. He was an independent member of the Organo di Vigilanza, of Telecom Italia Open Access (2008-2012) monitoring access to the incumbent’s network. He was previously an expert for the Italian regulator AGCom in litigations between operators on access rates. He co-founded and acted as Chair/Rapporteur of the European Spectrum Management Conferences since its creation in 2006. He chaired the Scientific Committee of the “Spectrum & Innovation” 1st International Conference organised by the French Agence Nationale des Fréquences. He was previously Chair of the European Union Framework Research & Technology Development Programme Monitoring Panel, and Chair of the Monitoring Committee of the EU Information Society and Technologies Research Programme. He participates in numerous Government-level and regulation Authorities Committees and Scientific Committees on telecom and media policy and regulation in Europe, the USA and Asia. He co-created in May 2015 the Brussels CEPS Expert Group on e-communications to contribute to the European Commission Review of the telecom regulatory framework, and the development of the Telecom Single Market.

He published numerous articles, books, and reports including: “Spectrum 5.0: improving assignment procedures to meet economic and social policy goals”, “Valuation and pricing of licensed shared access: next generation pricing for next generation spectrum access”, “The digital dividend: radio spectrum, mobile broadband, and the media: Towards a policy framework”, Open Society Institute (2011), “The Radio Spectrum: managing a strategic resource”–with JM Chaduc, (Wiley-ISTEC London, January 2008), Nine regimes of spectrum management: a 4-step decision guide, Communications & Strategies, April 2007.

His current research focuses on the design of network investments incentives, the award of frequency licences, and competitive market dynamics in the digital economy, He is a member of the international panel of experts for the World Competitiveness Yearbook. He lectures extensively in Europe, the US, and Asia. Gérard Pogorel is Officier des Palmes Académiques

Graham Louth

Partner, Aetha Consulting

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

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

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

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

Lee Sanders

Partner, Aetha Consulting

Lee has over 12 years' experience of advising operators, regulators and government bodies across a broad range of topics, including network sharing, next generation networks and transaction support. Notably Lee has extensive expertise in spectrum issues and has led several high-profile spectrum-related studies for regulators, such as the European Commission, Ofcom (UK) and the IDA (Singapore). He has also led numerous projects to advise operators on spectrum issues, in particular to develop spectrum strategies and to value spectrum. He has supported operators to prepare for and bid in more than 15 spectrum auctions worldwide.
Lee holds B.A. and M.Eng. Degrees in Manufacturing Engineering, both from the University of Cambridge, UK.

Examples of projects which illustrate the breadth of Lee's experience include:
Telstra (Australia) - development of a spectrum valuation model, auction bid strategy and on-site tactical support during the 700MHz and 2.6GHz auction.
BBC and Channel 4 (UK) - Development of a report to investigate the merits of AIP for broadcasting spectrum.
Western European mobile operator - due diligence of a business case for the acquisition of another operator in the market.
GSM Association - Development a series of case studies to investigate how regulators have approached clearing and then awarding the 700MHz/800MHz bands.
Orange (Switzerland) - development of a spectrum valuation model, auction bid strategy and on-site tactical support during the multi-band auction.
European Commission - Study to assess the benefits of a coordinated approach to the digital dividend.
IDA (Singapore) - Support to develop a strategy for the digital dividend.
OPTA (Netherlands) - Evaluation of the business case for alternative operators to use fibre unbundling.
NITA (Denmark) - Mobile spectrum demand forecast.
Vodafone and Orange UK - Assessment of the business case for RAN sharing and subsequent assistance in the creation of the new joint venture.