17th European Spectrum Management Conference

Mr. Mario Maniewicz was elected Director of the ITU Radiocommunication Bureau at the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference 2018 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. He took office on 1 January 2019.

Mario Maniewicz is an electronic engineer specialized in telecommunications. He has been with the ITU for over 30 years, where he has held various positions of responsibility in the Radiocommunication and Development Bureaux as well as in ITU Regional Offices.

As Director, Mr. Maniewicz is responsible for the management of the Radiocommunication Bureau, which organizes and co-ordinates the work of the Radiocommunication Sector whose aim is to ensure the rational, equitable, efficient and economical use of the radio-frequency spectrum and satellite orbits.

Ms. Zeng Fansheng has been working in radio spectrum regulation field since 2002. In past 10 years, she was engaged in Space Service. Now her main responsibility in the Bureau of Radio Regulation of the MIIT includes national frequency planning, domestic ITU-R study Groups organization, coordinating WRC-23 preparation and APT Radiocommunication programs in Chinese Administration.

Pratompong Srinuan received Ph.D. in technology management and Economics from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden. He also held bachelor and master degree in Economics. He now serves as a senior economic expert at the office of the national broadcasting and telecommunications commission (NBTC) in Thailand. His main responsibilities focus on economic regulations. His recent experiences include spectrum designs and auctions (organized in 2015, 2018, and 2020), competition, spectrum refarming, and price regulations. He currently works on a preparation of 3.5GHz band, and a spectrum auction of 1800 MHz, 3500 MHz, and 28 GHz that will be held in the early of 2022.

Stuart is Director of Spectrum & Industry Affairs at Samsung and chair of the GSA’s Global Spectrum Team. Stuart has enjoyed diverse experience in both corporations and start-ups on the road to 5G, since he entered the industry as part of the UK government’s 3G auction team. Other roles have included: membership of Nokia’s global 3G technology and regulatory team; European regulatory and standards lead for 4G pioneer start up Flarion Technologies; part of Qualcomm’s European management and business development team for 4G, internet services, privacy and wireless power for electric vehicles and business development and marketing lead at wireless energy harvesting start-up Drayson Technologies.

Zeina Mokaddem has successfully championed and introduced a number of pioneering communication technologies globally and in the Middle East and North Africa in particular. Prior to Inmarsat, Ms Mokaddem worked as a consultant for a number of international communication players assisting them in opening new markets and shaping favourable regulatory frameworks in different jurisdictions. Zeina is currently co-chair for ITU’s Network of Women NOW-WRC23 for the Arab region.

Ms Mokaddem has an MSc in Engineering Management from the American University of Beirut.

Mr. Bharat Bhatia has over 45 years of experience in Telecom and ICT policy, regulations and spectrum management.

Mr. Bhatia is the President of ITU-APT Foundation of India. Mr. Bhatia also chairs the PPDR working groups under ITU and APT. Earlier he was also the President of TEMA – India’s Telecom Equipment Manufacturers Association and Vice President of ATIS -Association of Telecom Industries of Singapore. Mr. Bhatia is also a member of the steering board of WWRF.
Mr. Bhatia was the head of international spectrum team of Motorola Solutions Inc. where he worked for over 23 years in India and Singapore. Prior to that, he was a senior regulator with the Indian Government for 22 years as a spectrum regulator and Telecom policy specialist and was actively involved in opening of the Indian telecom to the private sector, including the licensing of first ever GSM metro cellular in India through a beauty contest in 1992 designed by him. He was also a key architect of India’s first ever National Frequency Allocation Plan (NFAP) in 1981 and the first ever published NFAP in 2000.

Mr. Bhatia actively participates in various ITU and APT meetings and has attended all World Radio Conferences during the last 20 years. Mr. Bhatia has lived in India and Singapore and frequently travels all over the world to speak at various conferences and events.
Mr. Bharat Bhatia holds a B. E. degree from University of Delhi in Electronics and Telecommunications and is a fellow member of IETE, the Institution of Electronics & Telecommunications Engineers. He did his Foundational Course from Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration in 1976. Mr. Bhatia has completed a number of management courses from various institutes and universities including National University of Singapore and George Washington University.

Dr. Heidi Himmanen is a Chief Advisor at the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom working in the 5G Momentum ecosystem project. 5G Momentum promotes new services and innovations based on 5G technology through trials to make Finland number one in 5G, brings together the needs and ideas of different actors, encourages cooperation, develops Finnish digital society and makes Finnish 5G-knowledge visible. Heidi has previously worked as a head of spectrum supervision and radio networks unit at the spectrum department at Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority (now Traficom). She holds a Dr. Sc. degree in Communications Engineering from University of Turku and a M. Sc. degree in Communications Engineering from Helsinki University of Technology (now Aalto University).

Alexander Kuhn is a Senior Government Official at the German Federal Network Agency (BNetzA). He is Deputy Head of Section “International Frequency affairs, frequency utilization concepts and the frequency usage plan” and the preparation for World Radiocommunication Conferences is under his responsibility. He lead the European countries (CEPT) at WRC 2015 and 2019.

Mr. Mario Maniewicz was elected Director of the ITU Radiocommunication Bureau at the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference 2018 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. He took office on 1 January 2019.

Mario Maniewicz is an electronic engineer specialized in telecommunications. He has been with the ITU for over 30 years, where he has held various positions of responsibility in the Radiocommunication and Development Bureaux as well as in ITU Regional Offices.

As Director, Mr. Maniewicz is responsible for the management of the Radiocommunication Bureau, which organizes and co-ordinates the work of the Radiocommunication Sector whose aim is to ensure the rational, equitable, efficient and economical use of the radio-frequency spectrum and satellite orbits.

Dr. Kyu-Jin WEE is a Fellow of Korea Radio Promotion Association (RAPA) since 2017. He is a Chairman of APG (APT WRC Preparatory Group) since 2016. He was a Vice President of Telecommunications Technology Association (TTA) since 2012. TTA is an accredited standard development organization for ICT in the Republic of Korea. Before he joined TTA, he worked in the Korean Government for more than 20 years for spectrum management and standardization.
He has been participating in various international and regional conferences including ITU and APT.

Since his joining to Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) in 2014, he has been responsible of promoting the mandates and interests of the IFT in the definition of the international policy and regulation on telecommunications, broadcasting and economic competition in organisms, forums and negotiations of a binding nature for the Mexican State. He was an official of the Communications and Transportation Ministry for more than six years, during this period he served as Head of the Mexican delegation in many World Assemblies and Conferences, of the ITU, CITEL and the OECD. He has participated as technical support in various negotiations of Free trade Agreements with Panama, Pacific Alliance, Progressive Integration Treaty of Trans-Pacific Association, Mexico, United States and Canada Trade, Modernization of the Free Trade Agreement with the European Union, among others.
He is currently Chairman of the Working Group to Coordinate Strategic Initiatives of the OAS related to Radiocommunications of the Permanent Consultative Committee II: Radiocommunications of the Inter-American Telecommunication Commission, Vice President of the Telecommunications Standardization Advisory Group of the International Telecommunications Union and recently he was appointed as Chairman of the Preparatory Group for the World Radiocommunication Conference. Víctor Martínez has a Law degree and has worked in the telecommunications sector for more than 20 years.

Elena Puigrefagut Coarasa, Senior Project Manager at the European Broadcasting Union, co-ordinates joint technical activities undertaken by EBU Members on frequency planning and spectrum management and regulation and, in particular, frequency planning studies for terrestrial broadcasting systems. She represents the EBU in a number of international committees as the CEPT, EC and ITU including ITU World Radiocommunication Conferences.

Prior to joining the EBU, Elena worked at Eutelsat, a global satellite operator, as a frequency planning engineer in the Operations Department. During this period, she was responsible for the planning of the satellites that supported the launch of digital TV across Europe in the mid-1990s.

Elena holds a Master’s degree in Image and Sound (ENST, Paris) and a M.Sc. in Telecommunications Engineering (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, ETSTB Barcelona).

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.

More information available shortly.

Guillaume Mascot is in charge of Government Relations for Nokia in APJ (Asia-Pacific, Japan) & India. He oversees all aspects of current and future policy and regulation in the Asia-Pacific region. In this role, he is working with institutions and other relevant stakeholders to create a favorable political and regulatory environment to foster public and private investment in the digital and broadband industries with a focus on innovation for sustainable growth, competitiveness, and quality of life in a connected environment. Guillaume has been speaking at various international and regional/local regulatory events (CommunicAsia, Mobile Asia Expo, ITU, APT forum, etc). Previously, Guillaume led Alcatel-Lucent’s EU representation in Brussels, managed European Affairs and engaged with the European Institutions. He was board member of the EIF (European Internet Foundation) – an European think tank supporting European political leadership for the development of European multilateral public policies responsive to the political, economic and social challenges of the worldwide digital revolution – and was also an associate member of the European Round Table of Industrialists (ERT). Guillaume holds a Master Degree in Political science with a major on Public Administration and Public policy from the University of Lille.

Crispian helps technology companies identify and capture growth opportunities by navigating the commercial and geopolitical environment through stakeholder engagement strategies.

Crispian has over sixteen years of corporate development experience in Asia, having successfully seen through overseas market expansion strategies and partnership agreements in his career with leading satellite and mobile operators. He has also led negotiations with both governmental and commercial entities in Asia. Before joining the private sector, Crispian worked at the Singapore Foreign Service.

Crispian holds Master of Science (International Political Economy) and Bachelor of Accountancy degrees from Nanyang Technological University (Singapore), and is a Chartered Accountant (Singapore). He is fluent in English and Mandarin.

He joined MIC in 2014, and started his career at the Tariff and Telecommunications Access Policy Division. From 2014 to 2016, he was in charge of competitive reduction of mobile phone charges and supportive measures for MVNO aimed at entering the mobile communications market. From 2015 to 2016, he worked for the General Affairs Division of Minister’s secretariat to check drafts of laws, and governmental and ministerial ordinances. He was sent to the Office of Assistant Chief Cabinet Secretary from 2017 to 2019. He served as the establishment of IT strategy for Japan and the policies for the national security of telecommunications including the deal against supply chain risks. After he returned to MIC around 2019, he contributed to the spectrum assignment of mobile telecommunications system and the promotion of 5G in Japan.

Philippe Poggianti is in charge of developing the adoption of 5G “next waves” at Qualcomm, including mmWave ecosystem and use cases.
In today’s digital transformation environment, it is crucial for TelCos and Enterprises to leverage 5G as a critical infrastructure enabling new use cases and business models.

Philippe is based at Qualcomm Paris.

Philippe was previously in charge of Value-Based Consulting and Solutions at Nokia, allowing TelCos to best prepare the evolution of their network and develop 5G use cases for both consumers and enterprises.

Philippe is a seasoned leader with more than 25 years of experience in the Telecom Industry, out of which 6 years based in Asia (Korea, Japan, China). In Shanghai, Philippe was leading Alcatel-Lucent’s TD-LTE Product Unit, driving the programs, roadmap and ecosystem for this 4G variant.

Philippe holds a Master of Science in Computer Science from ENSEEIHT, Toulouse, France, and a dual-degree Executive MBA with Distinction from INSEAD (France, Singapore) and from Tsinghua University (Beijing).

Tare Brisibe, is Senior Legal & Regulatory Counsel with SES. He is based in Singapore and responsible for SES’s government policy and regulatory activities in the Asia-Pacific region.

Tare has nearly two decades of experience in the satellite industry, having previously served as Regulatory Information Officer for Inmarsat (UK) and Director of Regulatory Affairs for SITAOnAir (Geneva). He also served as: Chair of the Legal Subcommittee, UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space; Deputy Director (Legal), National Space Research and Development Agency of Nigeria; and Vice Rapporteur, ITU Study Group 1.

He holds multiple degrees, including a PhD in International law from Leiden University.

Richard has over 20 years consulting and business experience working in the radio spectrum management, public telecommunications, digital broadcasting and satellite industries. He has worked for regulators, network operators, financiers, governments and end-users on issues covering national and international policy; regulation and its impact; pricing, auctions and licensing; cost modelling and tariff setting; planning and consultation; network specification and procurement; and digital switch-over. His work has been international in nature having taken him to every continent except Antarctica. Richard is also an experienced trainer having been running courses on spectrum management and policy for over 15 years.

In addition to providing consultancy advice and training, Richard’s career has embraced roles in a military communications company, as a transmission manager for BBC World Service and business manager for the UK’s largest broadcast infrastructure provider ntl: (now Arqiva) giving him a broad perspective on telecommunications and broadcast technologies and industries, their commercialisation and their regulation.

Luong Xuan Truong is a state official in Authority of Radio Frequency Management (ARFM) of the Ministry of Information and Communications of Viet Nam. He graduated from Vietnam National University Hanoi with a BA in Electronics and Telecommunications in 2009 and the Master degree in Telecommunications in 2011. From 2009 to 2015, he worked in The Regional Radio Frequency Center No. I – ARFM, he was responsed to monitor and handle radio interference. Now he is working in radio frequency policy and planing division – ARFM, he is response to study and propose regulations on band plans, channel arrangements, technical and operation conditions for radio systems. He also researches into using and licensing policies for new technologies and systems. In addition, he has good knowledge of radio systems, radio frequency measurement systems.

Amal graduated with BSc (Eng) Hons specialised in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering from Sri Lanka, MEng from the Technical University of Eindhoven, the Netherlands & PhD from Massey University in New Zealand.
He has published over 150 scholarly articles (peer-refereed technical journal and conference articles) in various journals including IEEE and IET digital libraries and transactions. He has held visiting positions at Tokyo University of Science (Japan) as a visiting associate professor and visiting professor. He was a Royal Dutch fellow of Netherlands and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS of Japan).
He has served on technical/programme committees, organizing committees and as track/session chairs for many international conferences. He was an advisor on many International conferences including CCBN conference in China, BES in India and BCA in Singapore.
Amal is a Senior Member of IEEE, Chartered Professional Engineer-CEng, Fellow of IET (UK) & Fellow of IPENZ (New Zealand).
Amal was active in many of the WBU-TC and ITU broadcast-related technical activities including as the Co-Chair of IRG-AVA of ITU-T SG9. He was Vice-Chairman of the WBU-TC from 2014-2018. He is an advisor to IET Vision and Imaging Professional Network having served as an executive of IET Vision and Imaging Professional Network.
He possesses more than 35 years of experience in all three sectors of broadcasting; viz. Academia, Research and Industry in senior broadcasting technology and ICT roles, including research and developments, regional capacity building in media and head of engineering of national TV-Sri Lanka, having started a career in computer engineering.
Dr Amal Punchihewa is currently a researcher at Massey University in two research centres. Some of his of research include disaster communication, earthquake detection and prediction, sensors, IoT, compression, AI, ML & DL, cybersecurity, inclusive media & learning, accessibility services for broadcasting and education. Amal brings his competency and expertise driving innovation of media and broadcast technologies, the capability to facilitate the formulation of technical guidelines and standards, providing expertise related to the convergence of media, and evolving technology needs in the best interest global citizens having a special focus on APAC and Pacific islands.

Siti Hajar a Specialist Spectrum Policy, Group Regulatory Affairs, Axiata Group Berhad. Her main roles include providing support and regulatory advise on spectrum regulatory issues to Axiata Group and its subsidiaries. She was with Telekom Malaysia’s regulatory team, an incumbent fixed operator in Malaysia for 3 years before joining Axiata Group Berhad’s Group Regulatory Affairs. She has more than 10 years of experience being in telecommunication industry in Malaysia.

As Director General of Spectrum Management and Standardization of Post and ICT, Ministry of ICT of Indonesia, Dr. Ismail leads the directorate general to fulfill an effective, efficient, dynamic and optimal frequency spectrum management, as well as encouraging the use of innovative technology that meets technical requirements. Currently, He is focusing on how government could drive the ICT ecosystem thus Indonesia could harness the full potentials through digital transformation, digital economy, and industry 4.0.

Dr. Ismail has been with The Government of Republic of Indonesia for 27 years. Prior to his current role, he was one of the initiators of Palapa Ring, a pivotal project to connect all provinces and capital districts with high capacity national backbone. Recently, he initiated and built what then became one stop information system regarding Covid-19 Vaccination program used by Indonesian Ministry of Health.

Mr Xu currently serves as Chief Strategy Officer of Huawei’s Wireless Product Line. In this capacity he is responsible for the “[email protected]” strategy planning and business development.

During his 20 years experience in Huawei, Mr Xu has held several senior roles in different departments. Previously he was the Director of Vodafone Account Marketing Department; in charge of marketing and joint innovations with the Vodafone Group. He has also worked within Huawei’s Research and Development organization as the President of the Packet Core Network Product Line. In this role he was responsible for the 2G/3G/4G Packet Switched Core end to end business planning business, solution design, R&D, sales and delivery.

Mr Xu graduated from the University of Xi’an Jiaotong with a MA degree in 1997. Then he joined Huawei as a R&D engineer.

Scott W Minehane is an international regulatory and strategy lawyer/economist in the communications sector and has been involved in advising investors, operators, Governments and regulators in Australia, Asia, the Pacific and Africa for over 30 years. His expertise extends to policy, legislative drafting, regulation, spectrum management, national broadband network and new generation fixed and mobile technologies including 5G.
He is the principal of Windsor Place Consulting Pty Ltd an independent consultancy practice, through which he has advised a range of international organisations including inter alia the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the World Bank, the GSMA and ASEAN. He was the author of the June 2020 ITU GSR Discussion Paper on the telecommunications sector responses to COVID-19. He has advised Governments, telecommunications regulators, MNOs and other stakeholders in Australia, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. He is currently the World Bank spectrum adviser to the Indonesian Government and from 1 July 2020 to the Pakistan Government/regulator.

Prior to the establishment of Windsor Place Consulting in 2000, Scott was a Director and Principal Consultant at Cutler & Company (1993-2000) and worked in the Australian Government in the late 1980s/early 1990s on the introduction of telecommunications competition including the licensing of the second telecommunications operator and the third mobile operator.

Scott is an independent director of Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) listed companies selling wireless technology including waveforms and public mobile radio (PMR) solutions – Etherstack (ASX:ESK) being used for emergency services and first responders as well as online financial transactions – iSignthis (ASX:ISX).

Scott has a Bachelor of Economics (1986) and a Bachelor of Laws (1991) from the University of Queensland and holds a Master of Laws specialising in Communications and Asian Law from the University of Melbourne (1998). He currently resides in Melbourne, Australia.

Brigadier General Md Shahidul Alam is the Director General of Spectrum Division of Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC). He completed B.Sc in Electrical & Electronic Engineering in 1998 from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) and M.Sc in Communication Engineering in 2005 from BUET.
Shahidul Alam has been playing his role successfully as the DG of Spectrum Division at BTRC since February 2018. His responsibilities include planning, assigning, ensuring proper utilizations and monitory of spectrum. He is also entitled to give permission and ensure quality control of wireless network, network’s equipment and import, export and manufacturing of equipment in Bangladesh. Besides these, he formulates, supervises and implements spectrum and deal with all types of wireless equipment related regulatory issues including guideline, instruction and quality control.

Mehul is responsible for the delivery of key Spectrum & Policy Advocacy programmes in India and South Asia region. He works closely with global teams in support of GSMA’s campaign for access to Harmonised Spectrum for Mobile Broadband. He is a co-author of IEEE publication titled “Spectrum Sharing in Cognitive Radio Networks for 5G Vision”. Mehul is a trained Electronics and Communication Engineer from RGTU, India with MSc in Mobile & Personal Communications from King’s College London. He is an MBA from joint MBA program at University of Catolica, University of Nova in Lisbon, Portugal and MIT Sloan in Boston, USA.