Speaker Biographies

Keynote Presentations

Panellists

Moderators

Vesa Terävä

Acting Head of Unit B2 - Implementation of Regulatory Framework, DG Infso, European Commission

Mr Terävä joined the European Commission and DG Information Society and Media in 2002.

Mr Terävä is currently acting Head of Unit B2 "Implementation of Regulatory Framework" in DG Information Society and Media, Directorate B. From 2003 until May 2009 Mr Terävä worked at Unit B5 "Procedures related to national regulatory measures" dealing with the electronic communications consultation procedures provided in EU telecoms rules. He was appointed as "Head of Sector" of the Unit in 2006 and "Deputy Head of Unit" in 2008.

Prior to joining the Commission he worked at the Permanent Representation of Finland to the EU and at the Ministry of Transport and Communications in Finland.
He has a Masters Degree and a post graduate pre-doctoral degree in Economics.

Chris Fonteijn

Chairman, BEREC & OPTA

Chris A. Fonteijn, Chairman of the Commission (1955, Den Haag), studied law in Leiden; during his years in military service, he worked in the Military Intelligence Service. From 1980, until his appointment as Chairman of the Commission of OPTA on September 1st 2005, Chris worked as a lawyer at NautaDutilh in Rotterdam, where he became a partner in 1988. He specialized in Business and Energy Law, and over the years he held a variety of positions at NautaDutilh; for several years he worked for NautaDutilh in the Middle East. During his last years at NautaDutilh, Fonteijn was director of the Energy & Utilities Group.

Martin Whitehead

Director, GSMA Europe

Martin Whitehead is the Director of GSMA Europe, which is the European arm of the GSMA – the global body that represents the worldwide mobile communications industry. Based in Brussels, Martin oversees all the activities of GSMA Europe and represents European mobile operators on a broad range of public policy matters.

Martin is also charged with implementing in Europe the GSMA’s global strategy of working with governments and international institutions to create a regulatory environment that maximises the mobile industry’s contribution to the European Union’s economic and social development.

Born in the UK, Martin has worked on EU public policy for over fifteen years. Before joining the GSMA in 2008 he ran his own business advising companies on how to shape EU policy and regulation. Prior to that he spent five years with the United States Department of Commerce working with American companies and U.S. government representatives to engage EU policy makers to improve the operating environment for U.S. companies in Europe.

Martin spent his early Brussels career in the EU institutions, including a four-year spell with European Commission’s Single Currency Communication Task Force. He is a graduate in Economics and Sociology from Bristol University in the UK, and speaks French and Spanish in addition to his native English. He lives in Belgium with wife and three children.

Nick Delfas

Analyst, Morgan Stanley

Nick Delfas joined Morgan Stanley in 2005 to head the European telecoms research group. Previously, he covered wireline and alternative carrier stocks at Lehman Brothers as part of the research group that was number one rated for four consecutive years. Nick began his career at JP Morgan in credit and then equity research. Nick has also had buy-side experience managing telecoms high yield money at Barclays Capital and equities at Lehman Brothers.
Nick holds an MA in Classics from Oxford University. Recently, he was ranked top analyst in European Telecoms, Institutional Investor 2008 and Morgan Stanley was top ranked team for Alpha Magazine 2008 and second in Extel 2010.

Vesa Terävä

Acting Head of Unit B2 - Implementation of Regulatory Framework, DG Infso, European Commission

Mr Terävä joined the European Commission and DG Information Society and Media in 2002.

Mr Terävä is currently acting Head of Unit B2 "Implementation of Regulatory Framework" in DG Information Society and Media, Directorate B. From 2003 until May 2009 Mr Terävä worked at Unit B5 "Procedures related to national regulatory measures" dealing with the electronic communications consultation procedures provided in EU telecoms rules. He was appointed as "Head of Sector" of the Unit in 2006 and "Deputy Head of Unit" in 2008.

Prior to joining the Commission he worked at the Permanent Representation of Finland to the EU and at the Ministry of Transport and Communications in Finland.
He has a Masters Degree and a post graduate pre-doctoral degree in Economics.

Richard Feasey

Public Policy Director, Vodafone Group

Richard is the Public Policy Director for the Vodafone Group, coordinating global public policy and regulatory affairs throughout Vodafone’s operating companies including Europe, the United States, and Asia-Pacific. He has held this role since 2001. Richard has worked in the communications sector since 1991 and in the United States prior to that.

Nick White

Executive Vice President, International Telecommunications Users Group (INTUG)

Nick White has spent over 35 years in international telecommunications. He joined Reuters in 1973, who joined the newly formed INTUG with other multinationals soon after, to lobby for competitive provision of telecommunications internationally.

Nick became active in UK regulatory affairs in the early 1980s, after joining Midland Bank to build a second worldwide network, which was also used to offer competitive value added network services. He chaired TMA (now CMA) from 1990-93.

He joined Unilever in 1991 to build his third global network, linking operations in 100 countries. He joined the INTUG Executive in 1993 and has rejoined the CMA Board.

He is now an independent consultant in telecommunications regulatory affairs, representing user interests at national and international level. He is a regular speaker at telecommunications events, including in Brussels and in the UK.

John Blakemore

Director of European Regulatory Affairs, Hutchison 3G

John Blakemore is Director of European Regulatory Affairs and Head of the Brussels office of Hutchison Whampoa Limited (HWL). In this capacity he is responsible for representing HWL’s interests in Europe. HWL operates 5 divisions: ports, retail, energy, property development, and energy and infrastructure. In Europe it is present in 25 countries with 77,000 employees. John is involved in projects concerning HWL’s container ports, retail businesses and mobile networks and his work brings him into day-to-day contact with the European institutions. John reports directly to Christian Salbaing, Deputy Chairman, Hutchison Whampoa (Europe) Ltd.

Over the past 4 years, John has been co-ordinating the regulatory activities of HWL’s telecommunications interests in Europe – the 3 Group. He has been active in influencing regulatory policy on, amongst other things, international roaming charges, mobile termination rates and spectrum.

John has worked in the telecommunications industry for 10 years. Prior to that he was at the UK’s competition authority, the Office of Fair Trading, where he was Chief Financial Analyst. There he was responsible for the financial analysis of competition cases involving abuses of dominance, anti competitive agreements and mergers.

John has a first degree in economics, an MSc in finance and is a qualified accountant.

John is a British citizen.

J. Scott Marcus

Director, WIK-Consult GmbH

J. Scott Marcus is a Director of WIK-Consult GmbH (the consulting arm of the WIK, a research institute in economics and regulatory policy for network industries, located in Bad Honnef, Germany). Previously, he served as Senior Advisor for Internet Technology for the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC), a position equivalent in rank to the Chief Economist or Chief Technologist. Prior to that, he was the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Genuity, Inc. (GTE Internetworking), one of the world's largest Internet backbone service providers at that time. Mr. Marcus holds a B.A. in Political Science (Public Administration) from the City College of New York, and an M.S. from the School of Engineering, Columbia University. In 2004, Mr. Marcus was attached to the European Commission (DG INFSO) while a Transatlantic Fellow of the German Marshall Fund of the United States

Adina Ioana Vălean

Member, European Parliament

Adina Ioana Vălean is a Romanian politician and Member of the European Parliament. A member of the National Liberal Party (PNL), part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, she was elected to the Chamber of Deputies on the Justice and Truth list for Călăraşi County, and became a Member of the European Parliament on January 1, 2007, with the accession of Romania to the European Union. She currently sits in the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, the Committee on Petitions, the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, the Delegation to the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Cooperation Committee and the Delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly.

Adina Vălean is Vice-president of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), Coordinator of the Petitions Committee, Chair of the ALDE Working Group A, and initiator and Chair of the ALDE Temporary Working Group on Financing Europe's Major Infrastructures.

As an MEP, Adina Vălean has been responsible for 3 major reports, on Roaming, Free Movements of Citizens and Investment Projects in Energy Infrastructure.

Robert Mourik

Director Regulatory Policy, Telefónica

Robert Mourik is the Director Regulatory Policy Europe. He is responsible for formulating EU related policy and coordinating the regulatory policy of the European operating businesses of Telefónica.

He studied Economic History and Politics at the Erasmus University in his native Rotterdam (Netherlands) and the University of Hull (UK).

After a career with the Dutch Department of Telecommunications and as Telecom Attaché in the Permanent Representation in Brussels, he joined Vodafone in 1999. Until 2004 he held various positions in Brussels and Newbury.

Before his move to Telefónica S.A. in May 2009, Robert was Head of Regulatory Affairs in O2 Ireland where he was also responsible for various strategic projects.

Roberto Viola

Secretary General, AGCOM

Roberto Viola holds a doctor degree in electronic engineering (Dr. Eng.) and a master in business administration (MBA). He is currently in charge of managing the overall AGCOM organisation as Secretary General. He has been Chairman for 2010 of the Radio Spectrum Policy group (RSPG) and he is currently Deputy Chairman of RSPG for 2011. He is AGCOM representative in BEREC. He was Chairman for 2007 of the European Regulatory Group (ERG). He served in AGCOM (1999-2004), as Director of regulation department and technical Director being 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.
He pioneered novel communication systems (UMTS, satellite radio, digital broadcasting) publishing more than 100 scientific papers and holding key patents in the sector.

François Comet

Deputy to the Chief Regulatory Officer, France Telecom Group

François Comet is deputy to the Chief Regulatory Officer of the France Telecom group focusing on international activities.

Prior to this appointment François Comet held various executive positions in the France Telecom group related to international business development and strategy.

François also acted as a Senior Vice President for Corporate Innovation and as CEO for France Telecom Capital Development, the France Telecom subsidiary investing in Venture capital and Corporate venture.

Strongly involved in international activities, François worked in the United States and served four years in Telecom Argentina before being instrumental in European development and roll out of France Telecom activities in Europe.

François has been a boardmember for both start ups and large companies including Telmex.

Born in Nice, France, François Comet graduated from the Ecole Polytechnique and from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications. He is fluent in French, English, Spanish, German and Russian.

Alexander Zuser

Director for Regulatory & European Affairs, Telekom Austria Group

Dr Alexander Zuser, MBA, is the Director of Regulatory and European Affairs for Telekom Austria (Group). He is also the Managing Director of 3G Mobile GmbH as well as being a lecturer on ‘Information and Law’ at the University of Vienna. He was formally Head of Regulatory Affairs and Wholesale Services and subsequently General Director for mobilkom Austria and has also worked as both a case handler for the Austrian Regulatory Authority for Telecommunications’ Legal Department and as an Attorney for Wolf Theiss & Partners. From 1995 to 1997 Dr Zuser worked as a teaching assistant for Civil and Commercial Law at the University of Graz, Austria from which he had previously gained a law degree . He then became a research assistant in Rutgers law school, USA and went on to obtain a doctorate degree in Austria, writing his thesis on European competitive Law. He has also been awarded a Masters of Business Administration. Dr Zuser speaks both English and German fluently and has a good knowledge of both French and Spanish.

Nigel Hickson

Head; EU and International ICT Policy , UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

Nigel Hickson was educated in Hertfordshire in England before going to the City University to study Electronic and Electrical Engineering. He joined the Department of Trade and Industry in 1982. He was seconded to the CBI in June 2000 to head up their newly formed E-business Group and in July 2001 joined the Government of Bermuda as the E Business Adviser to the Minister of Telecommunications and E Commerce.

Now back in BIS he heads up a team working on global ICT policy and regulatory issues; recently working on the ITU Plenipotentiary and the EU Communications Framework.

He is a keen cycler, walker and scouter.

Ewan Sutherland

Telecommunications Consultant, Independent

Ewan Sutherland is an independent telecommunication policy analyst. He is a graduate of the Universities of Glasgow and of Strathclyde in his native Scotland. He has worked in the Universities of Wolverhampton, Westminster, Stirling and Wales, plus the European Business School, where he taught various aspects of policy and ICTs. He has been visiting faculty at Georgetown University (Washington DC) and the Graduate School of Telecommunications and Information Technology (Addis Ababa). He is a Research Associate at CRIDS (University of Namur) and LINK Centre (University of Witwatersrand).

From 1999 to 2005 he was Executive Director of the International Telecommunication Users Group (INTUG). He represented INTUG at the European institutions, at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), at APECTEL and at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

He has been a regular speaker at international conferences.

Ewan has undertaken a number of international projects for OECD, InfoDev, ITU-Development, ITU-T Standardisation and for national authorities in Africa and Asia.

He has been involved in roaming issues since 1999 and has published several articles on the topic. More details on this can be found at the following link: http://ssrn.com/author=927092.

Fabio Colasanti

President, International Institute of Communications

President of the International Institute of Communications (London, UK) since April 2010, Fabio Colasanti, born in 1946, was previously a Director General in the European Commission for over ten years.

He headed first the department called “Enterprise” from January 2000 to June 2002 and, from July 2002 to March 2010, was in charge of the department for "Information Society and Media". This department is responsible for developing and overseeing European regulatory policies for electronic communications and for the audiovisual sector, as well as promoting a faster take up of Information and Communication Technologies throughout the European Union. Prior to this appointment, from June 1999 to the end of 1999, he was Deputy Head of the Office of Commission President Romano Prodi and from the beginning of 1996 until June 1999 a Director in the European Commission's “Budget” department, with responsibility for the “Resources” Directorate.

Previously, from 1988 to the end of 1995, Mr Colasanti served successively as Head of the “Economic Forecasts” and “Macro-economic policy analysis” units of the Commission's department for Economic and Financial Affairs. In 1992, he studied local development issues in the USA during a three months trip across 18 states, thanks to an Eisenhower Fellowship. From 1985 to the end of 1987, Mr. Colasanti was a member of the Commission’s Spokesman’s Group with responsibility for economic and monetary affairs, regional policy, credit and investment, small and medium-sized enterprises (the portfolios of Commissioners Alois Pfeiffer and Abel Matutes).

From October 1977 to 1984, Mr Colasanti worked as an economist in the Commission's department for Economic and Financial Affairs (budgetary policies, monitoring of the Italian economy, short-term forecasts, European Monetary System and the Ecu). From 1971 to 1977, he held various positions with Italcable Spa of Rome (an international telecommunications company that is now part of Telecom Italia).

Mr Colasanti holds diplomas in economics from the University of Rome and the College of Europe in Bruges. An Italian national, he works regularly in English and French, is fluent in German and Spanish and speaks some Greek.

Denis Lescop

Director of TEM Research, Telecom Business School

Denis Lescop is Director of TEM Research (Research Centre of TELECOM Management School) and associate professor in economics.
After obtaining his Ph.D. in economics, Denis joined in 2001 the French Regulatory Authority for Telecommunications, where he managed telecom markets observatory and studies. He then worked for the strategic department of La Poste group as an analyst-economist. In 2004, he became case-officer for the French Competition Council. He was in charge of cases related to telecom and media sectors.
In late 2006, he joined TEM, the management school of Institut TELECOM. In 2007, he participated in the creation of the laboratory CEMANTIC (Centre of Research in Management and ICT) and managed the Innovation research team. In February 2010, he became Director of TEM Research.
The research of Denis Lescop focusses on economics of iCT regulation, new forms of competition (open innovation, business ecosystems) and their impact on both market structures and regulatory processes. He is author and co-author of numerous articles published in scientific journals and books in economics, regulation and strategy.