The 18th European Spectrum Management Conference took place from 6 – 7 June 2023 at Sparks in Brussels.
Across 2 days attendees had the opportunity to be involved in discussions on the key spectrum topics for the region and beyond, through interactive sessions, networking opportunities, an exhibition area and much more.
The conference is part of The Global Spectrum Series. The world’s largest collection of regional spectrum policy conferences.
Access are the world’s preeminent tech policy advisory.
They work with companies to enable and optimise their participation in markets across the globe and advise governments on how best to regulate existing and emergent technologies.
Their mission is to make sure as many people as possible have access to transformative technologies without eroding competition or consumer choice.
They believe tech policy must treat all stakeholders fairly.
Analysys Mason is the world’s leading management consultancy focused on TMT, a critical enabler of economic, environmental and social transformation. They bring together unparalleled commercial and technical understanding to deliver bespoke consultancy on strategy, transaction support, transformation, regulation and policy, further strengthened by globally respected research.
Their clients value their advice which combines deep domain knowledge with global reach and local insight into markets to help them achieve meaningful business results.
Analysys Mason are committed to their clients, employees and communities – contributing to a world where technology delivers for all.
Broadcast Networks Europe is dedicated to maintaining an efficient and fair regulatory and operational environment for Terrestrial Broadcast Network Operators with a view to ensuring European citizens continue having universal access to a broad range of TV and radio programs and content as well as other over-the-air services.
Coleago profile for conference website Founded in 2001, Coleago is a specialist telecoms management consulting firm. Our expertise has been developed exclusively within the telecoms sector and delivers a rare combination of telecoms-related commercial and technical skills and experience. Since 2001 we have worked on over 110 spectrum related projects in developed and emerging markets. Since 2017 our spectrum projects included the transition to 5G, including valuating spectrum most relevant for 5G such as 600MHz, 700MHz, 3.5GHz, and mm wave. We advise regulators on spectrum policy, spectrum roadmap, spectrum pricing, spectrum auctions and capacity building on the topic best practice in spectrum auctions. For mobile operators Coleago delivers regulatory advocacy and responses to consultation, spectrum valuation, bid strategy development and live auction support. Coleago also authored complete bid books for spectrum licence awards by means of a beauty contest. For further information, please visit www.coleago.com
DSA is the only global organization focused on promoting spectrum sharing innovation to get the most out of wireless resources. Our team is made up of worldwide technology experts, making the DSA the shared spectrum go-to organization for regulators and policymakers all over the world.
We advocate for policies that promote unlicensed and dynamic access to spectrum to unleash economic growth and innovation. Additionally, we advocate for a variety of technologies that allow dynamic access to spectrum.
Our focus is ensuring that the regulatory framework to support that diversity of technologies is adopted.
The DSA has a strong presence in North America, but also in Latin America, Africa, and Asia.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) is the world’s leading alliance of public service media (PSM). We have 112 member organizations in 56 countries and have an additional 30 Associates in Asia, Africa, Australasia and the Americas. Our Members operate nearly 2,000 television, radio and online channels and services, and offer a wealth of content across other platforms.
Together they reach an audience of more than one billion people around the world, broadcasting in 153 languages. We operate Eurovision and Euroradio services.
For more information, please visit: www.ebu.ch/home
Ericsson is a world-leading provider of telecommunications equipment and related services to mobile and fixed network operators globally. Over 1,000 networks in more than 180 countries utilize our network equipment and 40 percent of all mobile calls are made through our systems. We are one of the few companies worldwide that can offer end-to-end solutions for all major mobile communication standards. Communication is changing the way we live and work. Ericsson plays a key role in this evolution, using innovation to empower people, business and society. We provide communications networks, telecom services and multimedia solutions, making it easier for people all over the globe to communicate.
The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, uniting nearly 800 operators with more than 250 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset and device makers, software companies, equipment providers and Internet companies, as well as organisations in adjacent industry sectors. The GSMA also produces industry-leading events such as Mobile World Congress, Mobile World Congress Shanghai and the Mobile 360 Series conferences.
GSOA is a non-profit organisation established with the objective of serving and promoting the common interests of satellite operators from Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the CIS. The Association today represents the interests of 21 satellite operators who deliver information communication services across the globe. Together ESOA Members provide invaluable communications services to the whole world including emergency communications, live broadcasting, maritime and aero communications, secure services for governments, 24-7 monitoring of industrial processes such as energy plants and a whole range of other communications capabilities that society has come to rely on.
HPE is a global, edge-to-cloud Platform-as-a-Service company built to transform your business. How? By helping you connect, protect, analyse and act on all your data and applications wherever they live, from edge to cloud, so you can turn insights into outcomes at the speed required to thrive in today’s complex world.
Founded in 1987, Huawei is a leading global provider of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices. We are committed to bringing digital to every person, home and organization for a fully connected, intelligent world. We have more than 194,000 employees, and we operate in more than 170 countries and regions, serving more than three billion people around the world. Huawei is a private company wholly owned by its employees. Through the Union of Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd., we implement an Employee Shareholding Scheme involving 104,572 employees. Only Huawei employees are eligible to participate. No government agency or outside organization holds shares in Huawei.
Intelsat S.A. (NYSE: I) operates the world’s first Globalized Network, delivering high-quality, cost-effective video and broadband services anywhere in the world. Intelsat’s Globalized Network combines the world’s largest satellite backbone with terrestrial infrastructure, managed services and an open, interoperable architecture to enable customers to drive revenue and reach through a new generation of network services. Thousands of organizations serving billions of people worldwide rely on Intelsat to provide ubiquitous broadband connectivity, multi-format video broadcasting, secure satellite communications and seamless mobility services. The end result is an entirely new world, one that allows us to envision the impossible, connect without boundaries and transform the ways in which we live.
In a world where smart technologies determine our everyday life more and more, it is increasingly important to ensure global connectivity through wireless communication. This is where we, LS telcom AG, come into play: We deliver technologies and services to national and international regulatory authorities, network operators and vertical markets. 5G and IoT thereby form a main focus, but Defense and Public safety play an important role, too. LS telcom is the global leader in spectrum efficiency. In line with the diversification and commercialization of radio technologies there has been a constant increase in demand for frequency spectrum and its commercial value. Our Smart Spectrum Solutions hereby offer not only a high quality but also numerous designing, planning, management and monitoring options. Spectrum users in over 100 countries rely on our experts and products for efficient spectrum use. With around 235 employees in 15 subsidiaries worldwide we provide not only excellent products and services, but also a high number of diverse (online) trainings.
The metaverse is the next evolution of social connection. Our company’s vision is to help bring the metaverse to life, so we are changing our name to reflect our commitment to this future.
Nokia is a global leader in creating the technologies at the heart of our connected world. Powered by the research and innovation of Nokia Bell Labs, we serve communications service providers, governments, large enterprises and consumers, with the industry’s most complete, end-to-end portfolio of products, services and licensing.From the enabling infrastructure for 5G and the Internet of Things, to emerging applications in virtual reality and digital health, we are shaping the future of technology to transform the human experience.
Qualcomm’s technologies powered the smartphone revolution and connected billions of people. While many of our inventions and breakthroughs reside “under the hood” of consumer electronics, they have transformed the world in a big way. They have helped propel mobile to the forefront of the technology world and to the top of consumers’ wish lists. They have created new opportunities for mobile ecosystem players — the wireless device makers, the operators, the developers and the content creators of the world. And more recently, our inventions and breakthroughs have inspired fresh, new ideas from those companies — large and small — new to the wireless space. We are engineers, scientists and business strategists. Together, we focus on a single goal — invent mobile technology breakthroughs. We pioneered 3G and 4G — and now, we are leading the way to 5G and a new era of intelligent, connected devices. Our products are revolutionizing industries including automotive, computing, IoT and healthcare, and are allowing millions of devices to connect with each other in ways never before imagined.
Established in 1996, the Wireless Innovation Forum™ comprises an international group of equipment vendors, subsystem vendors, software developers, technology developers, communication service providers, research and engineering organizations, academic institutions, government users, regulators and other interested parties who share the common business interests of advancing technologies supporting the innovative utilization of spectrum and the development of wireless communications systems, including essential or critical communications systems.
ZTE Corporation is a global leader in telecommunications and information technology. Founded in 1985 and listed on both the Hong Kong and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges, the company has been committed to providing innovative technologies and integrated solutions for global operators, government and enterprise, and consumers from over 160 countries across the globe. Serving over 1/4 of the global population, the company is dedicated to enabling connectivity and trust everywhere for a better future.
The 5G Automotive Association (5GAA) is a global, cross-industry organisation of companies from the automotive, technology, and telecommunications industries (ICT), working together to develop end-to-end solutions for future mobility and transportation services.
The metaverse is the next evolution of social connection. Our company’s vision is to help bring the metaverse to life, so we are changing our name to reflect our commitment to this future.
Nokia is a global leader in creating the technologies at the heart of our connected world. Powered by the research and innovation of Nokia Bell Labs, we serve communications service providers, governments, large enterprises and consumers, with the industry’s most complete, end-to-end portfolio of products, services and licensing.From the enabling infrastructure for 5G and the Internet of Things, to emerging applications in virtual reality and digital health, we are shaping the future of technology to transform the human experience.
Qualcomm’s technologies powered the smartphone revolution and connected billions of people. While many of our inventions and breakthroughs reside “under the hood” of consumer electronics, they have transformed the world in a big way. They have helped propel mobile to the forefront of the technology world and to the top of consumers’ wish lists. They have created new opportunities for mobile ecosystem players — the wireless device makers, the operators, the developers and the content creators of the world. And more recently, our inventions and breakthroughs have inspired fresh, new ideas from those companies — large and small — new to the wireless space. We are engineers, scientists and business strategists. Together, we focus on a single goal — invent mobile technology breakthroughs. We pioneered 3G and 4G — and now, we are leading the way to 5G and a new era of intelligent, connected devices. Our products are revolutionizing industries including automotive, computing, IoT and healthcare, and are allowing millions of devices to connect with each other in ways never before imagined.
Established in 1996, the Wireless Innovation Forum™ comprises an international group of equipment vendors, subsystem vendors, software developers, technology developers, communication service providers, research and engineering organizations, academic institutions, government users, regulators and other interested parties who share the common business interests of advancing technologies supporting the innovative utilization of spectrum and the development of wireless communications systems, including essential or critical communications systems.
ZTE Corporation is a global leader in telecommunications and information technology. Founded in 1985 and listed on both the Hong Kong and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges, the company has been committed to providing innovative technologies and integrated solutions for global operators, government and enterprise, and consumers from over 160 countries across the globe. Serving over 1/4 of the global population, the company is dedicated to enabling connectivity and trust everywhere for a better future.
Aetha Consulting provides strategic advice to the telecommunications industry and specialises in undertaking rigorous data-driven quantitative assessments to help businesses, regulators and policy makers make major strategic and regulatory decisions. We work with our clients to develop creative and sustainable solutions to the challenges facing them in a constantly changing environment. Aetha helps operators and regulators to analyse the opportunities and threats arising out of changes (whether real or proposed) in their radio spectrum holdings. Throughout the recent unprecedented growth of wireless services, Aetha’s staff have been at the forefront of spectrum policy. Our consultants have assisted regulators to award spectrum and develop regulatory frameworks, including supporting the European Commission to tackle issues such as spectrum trading and the digital dividend. We also support operators to understand their spectrum needs, value spectrum and bid in auctions. Each year we support 10-15 bidders in spectrum auctions – a total of over 80 award processes between mid-2011 and 2017 across all regions of the world. Our technical knowledge, combined with our rigorous valuation modelling approach, ensures that our clients are comprehensively prepared for auctions.
NERA Economic Consulting is a global firm of experts dedicated to applying economic, finance, and quantitative principles to complex business and legal challenges. For half a century, NERA’s economists have been creating strategies, studies, reports, expert testimony, and policy recommendations for government authorities and the world’s leading law firms and corporations. We bring academic rigor, objectivity, and real world industry experience to bear on issues arising from competition, regulation, public policy, strategy, finance, and litigation. NERA’s clients value our ability to apply and communicate state-of-the-art approaches clearly and convincingly, our commitment to deliver unbiased findings, and our reputation for quality and independence. Our clients rely on the integrity and skills of our unparalleled team of economists and other experts backed by the resources and reliability of one of the world’s largest economic consultancies. With its main office in New York City, NERA serves clients from more than 25 offices across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific.
Renate Nikolay is now Deputy Director-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology. Previously, she was Head of Cabinet of Vera Jourova, Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality. She led the Unit of interinstitutional and international relations in DG Justice between 2011 and 2014 dealing with legislative files and international negotiations such as the ones on data protection with the US. Prior to that, she was advisor in the Cabinet of the first High Representative / Vice President Cathy Ashton where she led on the relations with the European Parliament in setting up the European External Action Service and on relations with Asia, in particular China. From 2004-2009 she was member of the Cabinet of the Trade Commissioners Peter Mandelson and Baroness Cathy Ashton where she followed the trade talks in the multilateral trade round of the World Trade Organisation (the Doha Round) and the EU-South Korea Free Trade Agreement which was finalised in 2009. She started her career in the European Commission in the Directorate General for Trade in November 2003 dealing with the accession negotiations of Vietnam to the World Trade Organisation and the Trade Policy Committee with the Member States. Prior to that she was a diplomat in the German Permanent Representation in Brussels and worked as private Secretary to the German G8 Sherpa in the German Ministry of Economics. She holds a law degree (Erstes und Zweites Staatsexamen) from the Free University in Berlin and a master as a Fulbright Scholar in Washington DC. She was also an Erasmus Scholar in France/Grenoble.
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 (www.anfr.fr).
In this capacity, he is responsible for preparing the revisions of the French national table of spectrum allocation and for coordinating French positions in international meetings and conferences on spectrum within ITU, CEPT and EU. He was deputy head of the French delegation for RRC-06, WRC-07, WRC-12, WRC-15 and WRC-19.
He is currently chairman of the RSPG, a high-level advisory group that assists the European Commission in the development of radio spectrum policy. He has been involved in all discussions on major evolutions of spectrum in Europe and was Chairman of the Electronic Communication Committee (CEPT/ECC) from 2013 to 2018 and of the European Conference Preparatory Group for the World Radiocommunications Conference 2012 (CPG-12).
Eric is a graduate telecom engineer from SUPELEC (France).
More information available shortly.
After a state exam of law at the University of Osnabrück, Mr Kühn has been working since 1998 in the area of legal internship (e.g. at Regional Court) of the Federal Network Agency, Germany; changing to national and international spectrum regulation on different levels in 2005. Nowadays he is the deputy head of section for international affairs and utilization concepts. His responsibilities cover strategic frequency utilization concepts and the transposition of those to the international level of CEPT, EU and ITU. Doing this and having been active in the preparation of three WRC’s, national and on CEPT CPG level, Mr Kühn participated in a number of international Groups, also as Head of the German Delegation. He has also chaired several groups and subgroups in the ITU and CEPT. Since 2005 he is responsible for national preparation of the WRC’s and served as CPG Vice-Chairman from 2010 to 2013 and as CPG chairman from 2013 to 2015.
Mr Kühn has been appointed as Chairman of the CEPT CPG in March 2016.
More information available shortly.
Jonas Wessel is Director of the Spectrum Department at the Swedish Post and Telecom Agency (PTS). He is also Chair of the Radio Spectrum Policy Group (RSPG) for the 2018-2019 period. The RSPG is a high-level advisory group that assists the European Commission in the development of radio spectrum policy. Jonas holds a MSC from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Industrial Engineering and Management. Jonas started his professional career as a strategy consultant, working mainly with business development in the telecoms and IT-sector.
In 2003, he joined the PTS as advisor on radio spectrum policy issues. After several positions within the Agency, including responsibility for auctions, he was assigned Director of the Spectrum Department in 2014. Jonas has been one of the driving forces behind the transformation of spectrum management in Sweden and has also been working with these issues internationally, mainly through the RSPG where he has been a delegate since 2004. He was Vice Chairman of the RSPG for the 2016-2017 period.
More information available shortly.
Mr. Ciccorossi is a senior radiocommunications engineer with over 25 years of experience in satellite communications and regulations. Since he joined the Space Services Department at the ITU in 2002,
he has been responsible for technical-regulatory examinations of GSO and NGSO satellite systems projects submitted by ITU Member States for coordination and notification, and for the analysis of cases of harmful interference.
He chaired the recent 22nd . International Space Radio Monitoring Meeting (ISRMM) in September 2021. He has also acted as Head of the Satellite Systems Coordination Division at the ITU and represented it before the Radio Regulations Board.
He was the Counsellor of the recent CPM23-2 DG-Plenary on future topics for WRC-27 as well as of the WG-6C at the World Radiocommunication Conference 2012, and has been speaker representing the ITU Radiocommunications Bureau at WRCs since 2003, as well as at CITEL, ICAO, Eurocontrol, UNOOSA, the Regulatory Expert Group of the ISRMM, IAC 2021 and 2022, ITU-R Study Groups, and IEEE.
Mr. Ciccorossi has conceived the first (and unique) Intergovernmental Online Platform to Report RFI cases affecting Satellite System (SIRRS), assisting 193 ITU Member States in its resolution. He also advices Administrations and Satellite Operators on technical-regulatory aspects of space services.
Mr. Ciccorossi holds the degree of engineer in electronics from the National University of Technology (UTN) in Buenos Aires, an Executive Certificate in Management and Leadership from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US, and has studied satellite communications and spacecraft design at the University of Surrey in the UK.
Born in Buenos Aires in 1967, Mr Ciccorossi holds Swiss, Italian and Argentinean nationalities.
Natalia Vicente is the Director of Public Affairs & Communications at GSOA where she works closely with the Director General and the CEOs of GSOA Member companies to drive forward high-level advocacy for the satellite communications sector. Specifically, Natalia focusses on the Development Agenda working with international organisations to ensure nation states understand the value of leveraging available satellite communications services to bridge digital, education and health divides in their countries.
Natalia is also a Board Member of the European Internet Forum where she represents GSOA in front of Members of the European Parliament. Natalia has over a decade of experience in the digital sector, focusing on public policy, government relations and building international partnerships.
Before joining GSOA, former ESOA, Natalia worked for the European Telecommunications Network Operator’s (ETNO) working on public and regulatory affairs. Prior to that, she worked for Telefonica, Telecom Italia and TagTagCity, where she was one of the first employees involved in establishing a start-up venture providing mobile solutions to municipalities and local businesses in Belgium.
Natalia is a qualified lawyer with an LLM from the University Autonoma of Madrid and holds a Master of Business Administration specialised in Marketing. She is a Spanish national, lives in Brussels and speaks 4 languages.
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.
Stefan Zehle is the co-founder and CEO of Coleago. He has 29 years’ experience in telecoms consulting and as Director of a mobile operating company. He specialises in strategy and business planning, spectrum related issues such as spectrum policy, valuation and auctions, and telecoms regulatory topics.
He gained his experience working in developed markets in Europe, Canada and the US and also in emerging markets in the Middle East, Africa, and the Far East.
Recent publications include the report “Estimating the mid-band spectrum needs in the 2025 – 2030 time frame”, for the GSMA (2021) and “The need for sub-1 GHz spectrum to deliver the vision of 5G”, for the GSMA (2022).
As Director of Strategy, Marketing and Regulatory Affairs, Stefan launched the 3rd mobile operator in Algeria. He developed the strategy, recruited other Directors and 200 staff, built the Sales and Marketing Department, and managed the brand creation. He challenged the regulatory status quo, transforming the interconnect landscape in Algeria by introducing best practice interconnect agreements. He filed regulatory complaints, winning million dollar cost savings.
Stefan is the co-author of “Guide to Business Planning”, published by “The Economist”, (“Outstanding Academic Title, 2009” awarded by Choice, the US academic reviewers. He holds an MBA (with distinction) awarded by the University of Westminster in 1991 and speaks French, English, and German.
Glyn Carter’s expertise spans a range of areas, including technology strategy, spectrum and other regulatory issues, standards, and the specification and procurement of voice and data terminals and services. Glyn’s knowledge of mobile telecoms technologies includes LTE, UMTS/HSPA, CDMA/EV-DO, GSM/GPRS and TETRA.
Glyn currently works in the Future Spectrum team at GSMA, preparing for the next ITU World Radio Communication Conference (WRC). In particular, Glyn is developing technical studies into compatibility and sharing between mobile and other services in spectrum bands. Before joining the GSMA in February 2012, Glyn spent over 10 years working for mobile operators in countries including Portugal, Romania and the UK.
As a consultant, Glyn has participated in numerous projects for regulators, operators and users of telecommunications, including replanning the radio spectrum in South Africa and other spectrum management projects for regulators in the UK, Japan, Sweden and Jordan. Glyn also undertook spectrum compatibility studies in CEPT and was editor of ECC Report 42 on spectrum efficiency. Before this, Glyn designed communication terminal products for Racal Electronics. Glyn has a bachelor of science degree in mathematics and a PhD in cryptography from London University.
Since joining Analysys Mason in 2014, Chris has developed particular expertise in wireless technologies and spectrum, as well as cost modelling and geo-analysis for telecoms networks. Chris has worked on a large range of spectrum projects, such as valuation and auction strategy for mobile spectrum, including costing of coverage obligations, 5G and 6G spectrum analysis (assessing bands from 400MHz to sub-THz), and spectrum projects for non-mobile telecoms technologies including satellite, microwave links, PPDR and many others. Chris maintains the company’s Spectrum Auction Tracker, a database of concluded and planned mobile spectrum auctions. He has experience in cost modelling developing long-run incremental cost (LRIC) models (for both fixed and mobile networks) in a number of markets around the world, as well as modelling the cost (and benefit) of 5G deployment. Chris also has extensive experience of geographic information systems (GIS) modelling for telecoms analysis in a range of contexts.
Chris joined Analysys Mason after graduating with a first-class MSc in Physics from the University of Cambridge.
Detlef Fuehrer is the Senior Manager, Spectrum Management and Regulatory Affairs, EMEA in the CTO Office at Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company. His main responsibility is to set and drive HPE’s legislative & regulatory priorities for the radio spectrum in EMEA and to execute all aspects of HPE’s EMEA strategy.
Prior to Aruba, Detlef managed the Spectrum Engineering activities of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre where he established the Radio Spectrum Lab. Holding a diploma in Electronics Engineering from Dortmund University, he worked in the semiconductor industry for almost 20 years, predominantly in the communications domain, at Alcatel, Texas Instruments, and Hitachi Electronic Components. Detlef authored the first German-language expert book on ADSL and published numerous studies on spectrum sharing and wireless coexistence.
Luigi Ardito is currently working as Director of government affairs for Europe, Middle East and North Africa at Qualcomm and drives the 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 also gained 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.
Renate Nikolay is now Deputy Director-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology. Previously, she was Head of Cabinet of Vera Jourova, Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality. She led the Unit of inter institutional and international relations in DG Justice between 2011 and 2014 dealing with legislative files and international negotiations such as the ones on data protection with the US. Prior to that, she was advisor in the Cabinet of the first High Representative / Vice President Cathy Ashton where she led on the relations with the European Parliament in setting up the European External Action Service and on relations with Asia, in particular China. From 2004-2009 she was member of the Cabinet of the Trade Commissioners Peter Mandelson and Baroness Cathy Ashton where she followed the trade talks in the multilateral trade round of the World Trade Organisation (the Doha Round) and the EU-South Korea Free Trade Agreement which was finalised in 2009. She started her career in the European Commission in the Directorate General for Trade in November 2003 dealing with the accession negotiations of Vietnam to the World Trade Organisation and the Trade Policy Committee with the Member States. Prior to that she was a diplomat in the German Permanent Representation in Brussels and worked as private Secretary to the German G8 Sherpa in the German Ministry of Economics. She holds a law degree (Erstes und Zweites Staatsexamen) from the Free University in Berlin and a master as a Fulbright Scholar in Washington DC. She was also an Erasmus Scholar in France/Grenoble.
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 (www.anfr.fr).
In this capacity, he is responsible for preparing the revisions of the French national table of spectrum allocation and for coordinating French positions in international meetings and conferences on spectrum within ITU, CEPT and EU. He was deputy head of the French delegation for RRC-06, WRC-07, WRC-12, WRC-15 and WRC-19.
He is currently chairman of the RSPG, a high-level advisory group that assists the European Commission in the development of radio spectrum policy.
He has been involved in all discussions on major evolutions of spectrum in Europe and was Chairman of the Electronic Communication Committee (CEPT/ECC) from 2013 to 2018 and of the European Conference Preparatory Group for the World Radiocommunications Conference 2012 (CPG-12).
Eric is a graduate telecom engineer from SUPELEC (France).
The first Radio Spectrum Policy Programme (RSPP) has been instrumental in shaping spectrum policy and thinking in Europe since its launch in 2012. Now, more than 10 years on, a new RSPP is being prepared to update and revise the guidelines and provide a spectrum framework for Europe that is designed for the 5G era and beyond. An impact assessment study and a public consultation are expected to have been launched by the time of this event, with the Commission aiming to deliver their proposal for the RSPP by the end of September this year. This session will explore what the key aims and objectives of the RSPP should be. Taking into account the extensive technological and regulatory developments that have been seen over the past decade, it will look at what updates and adjustments need to be made in order to deliver a forward-looking roadmap for spectrum in Europe that is suitable for today’s 5G society and beyond.
An engineer with broad experience in the telecoms and technology sectors, Andy has a particular interest in spectrum (auctions and valuation) and the impact of new technology (5G, AI, IoT and Big Data). He brings a deep understanding of both the industry and regulatory perspectives around the world through his role as Head of Policy for the GSMA and as Director of Spectrum Policy at Ofcom.
Andy spent 12 years at Vodafone, where he held various senior product development and corporate strategy roles. As Head of Spectrum, he was responsible for managing spectrum policy and auctions across the Vodafone Group. He led over twenty spectrum auctions around the world (including Turkey, Italy, Germany, India, Spain, Italy, Greece, Australia, Romania, NL and UK) from strategy/business case development to Plc. Board level sign-off and in-country implementation.
He was formerly a management consultant, has launched an internet payments and encryption company and worked as a research scientist at Sharp Laboratories of Europe and Sony Corporation, based in Japan. He has a doctorate in Engineering Science from Oxford University and an MBA. He is a frequent invited speaker at international conferences.
More information available shortly.
Jonas Wessel is Director of the Spectrum Department at the Swedish Post and Telecom Agency (PTS). He is also Chair of the Radio Spectrum Policy Group (RSPG) for the 2018-2019 period. The RSPG is a high-level advisory group that assists the European Commission in the development of radio spectrum policy. Jonas holds a MSC from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Industrial Engineering and Management. Jonas started his professional career as a strategy consultant, working mainly with business development in the telecoms and IT-sector.
In 2003, he joined the PTS as advisor on radio spectrum policy issues. After several positions within the Agency, including responsibility for auctions, he was assigned Director of the Spectrum Department in 2014. Jonas has been one of the driving forces behind the transformation of spectrum management in Sweden and has also been working with these issues internationally, mainly through the RSPG where he has been a delegate since 2004. He was Vice Chairman of the RSPG for the 2016-2017 period.
Natalia Vicente is the Director of Public Affairs & Communications at GSOA where she works closely with the Director General and the CEOs of GSOA Member companies to drive forward high-level advocacy for the satellite communications sector. Specifically, Natalia focusses on the Development Agenda working with international organisations to ensure nation states understand the value of leveraging available satellite communications services to bridge digital, education and health divides in their countries.
Natalia is also a Board Member of the European Internet Forum where she represents GSOA in front of Members of the European Parliament. Natalia has over a decade of experience in the digital sector, focusing on public policy, government relations and building international partnerships.
Before joining GSOA, former ESOA, Natalia worked for the European Telecommunications Network Operator’s (ETNO) working on public and regulatory affairs. Prior to that, she worked for Telefonica, Telecom Italia and TagTagCity, where she was one of the first employees involved in establishing a start-up venture providing mobile solutions to municipalities and local businesses in Belgium.
Natalia is a qualified lawyer with an LLM from the University Autonoma of Madrid and holds a Master of Business Administration specialised in Marketing. She is a Spanish national, lives in Brussels and speaks 4 languages.
Dr Guillaume Lebrun has been an active member of the spectrum community for more than 15 years, working for Orange, Qualcomm, Airbus and now Meta. Dr Lebrun contributed to key international spectrum projects such the opening of the 6 GHz band to Wi-Fi 6E and the 3.6 GHz for 5G.
Dr Lebrun is a member of the Global Connectivity Policy team at Meta where he is working on several spectrum initiatives to improve connectivity. Raising spectrum efficiency and availability is at the core of Guillaume’s mission.
Dr Lebrun holds an Engineering degree from ENST, Paris, France and a PhD in telecommunications from Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia.
The global space and satellite sector is evolving massively with a large number of innovative new technologies, services and business models emerging. One area that is already seeing significant interest is direct-to-device satellite connectivity – satellite and mobile operators partnering to connect satellites directly to phones or IoT sensors. Whilst the potential of this is huge, it also raises a number of regulatory and technical challenges, not least when considering the best way to meet the spectrum requirements of these new hybrid networks. Two distinct approaches are emerging – some companies are looking to use spectrum already allocated for mobile satellite services, whilst others are looking to re-use mobile spectrum bands that they would access through partnerships with MNOs. This session will look at the benefits, drawbacks and challenges associated with these two approaches, as well as looking more broadly at the hurdles that will need to be overcome in order to deliver on the potential of this exciting new technology.
Aarti Holla-Maini joined ESOA in 2004. She was named one of the Faces of Satellite of 2014 by the Society of Satellite Professionals International and is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council for Space where she served as Vice-Chair from 2013 – 2014.
Ms. Holla-Maini has nineteen years’ experience in the aerospace industry, starting at Daimler-Benz Aerospace (now Airbus Defense & Space) in Germany. She moved to Brussels in 2000 to represent former Astrium in the Galileo Industries joint venture towards European institutions on the European satellite navigation system Galileo, working on the development of the public-private partnership scheme and other management aspects of the Galileo programme. Since her MBA she has organized workshops on negotiation skills for young managers and remains an active alumnus of HEC.
Ms. Holla-Maini holds a Masters of Business Administration from HEC, France & Stern Business School, NY, USA. She qualified as Solicitor of the Supreme Court in the UK in 1995, holding a LLB Hons Law with German Law degree from King’s College, University of London & the University of Passau, Germany. Aarti lives in Brussels, has 3 children and speaks 5 languages.
Mr. Ciccorossi is a Senior Radio Communications Engineer with over 25 years of experience in satellite communications and regulations. Since he joined the Space Services Department at the ITU in 2002, he has been responsible for technical-regulatory examinations of GSO and NGSO satellite systems projects submitted by ITU Member States for coordination and notification, and for the analysis of cases of harmful interference.
He Chaired the recent 22nd. International Space Radio Monitoring Meeting (ISRMM) in September 2021. He has also acted as Head of the Satellite Systems Coordination Division at the ITU and represented it before the Radio Regulations Board.
He was the Counsellor of the recent CPM23-2 DG-Plenary on future topics for WRC-27 as well as of the WG-6C at the World Radio Communication Conference 2012, and has been speaker representing the ITU Radio Communications Bureau at WRCs since 2003, as well as at CITEL, ICAO, Eurocontrol, UNOOSA, the Regulatory Expert Group of the ISRMM, IAC 2021 and 2022, ITU-R Study Groups, and IEEE.
Mr. Ciccorossi has conceived the first (and unique) Intergovernmental Online Platform to Report RFI cases affecting Satellite System (SIRRS), assisting 193 ITU Member States in its resolution. He also advices Administrations and Satellite Operators on technical-regulatory aspects of space services.
Mr. Ciccorossi holds the degree of engineer in electronics from the National University of Technology (UTN) in Buenos Aires, an Executive Certificate in Management and Leadership from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US, and has studied satellite communications and spacecraft design at the University of Surrey in the UK.
Born in Buenos Aires in 1967, Mr Ciccorossi holds Swiss, Italian and Argentinean nationalities.
After a state exam in law at the University of Osnabrück, Mr Kühn has been working since 1998 in the area of legal internship (e.g. at Regional Court) of the Federal Network Agency Germany; changing to National and International Spectrum Regulation on different levels in 2005. Nowadays, he is the Deputy Head of Section for International Affairs and Utilisation Concepts. His responsibilities cover strategic frequency utilisation concepts and the transposition of those to the international level of CEPT, EU and ITU. Doing this and having been active in the preparation of three WRC’s, on national and on CEPT CPG level, Mr Kühn participated in a number of international Groups, also as Head of the German Delegation. He has also chaired several groups and subgroups in the ITU and CEPT. Since 2005, he has been responsible for the German preparation of the WRC’s and served as CEPT CPG Vice Chairman from 2010 to 2013. Mr Kühn was appointed Chairman of CPG in June 2013.
Ivan helps businesses with their Space and Spectrum strategies globally from a policy and regulatory angle and with a focus on emerging technologies.
In recent years, Ivan assisted satellite operators and new space ventures with global market access, ITU support, project management, and business strategy.
Prior to joining Access Partnership, he spent more than 10 years in corporate affairs, institutional relations, policy analysis, political reporting, and advocacy. He previously worked for the Telecommunications Division at Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC.
Ivan holds an MSc from the University of Cape Town, an MRes from the University of London, a BSc-BA from Universidad Complutense (Madrid) and Mid-Sweden University, and a BSc from UNED-Spain. He speaks Spanish, English, and Portuguese.
Hazem Moakkit is a veteran of the satellite industry where he has worked for over 22 years in various capacities. He currently serves as the Vice President for Spectrum Development at O3b Networks where he leads the creation and implementation of O3b’s global spectrum strategy.
Prior to O3b, Hazem spent 5 years at Yahsat in the United Arab Emirates as the Director of Regulatory & Spectrum Affairs where he successfully created and managed the Spectrum Strategy and led the acquisition of licenses and key orbital assets for the startup operator. He was also instrumental in devising the business strategy for Yahsat.
Early on in his career, Hazem held various engineering and spectrum positions at Intelsat, PanAmSat, and ATCI. Hazem holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Arizona State University, an MBA degree from Georgetown University.
Stephen is a member of Vodafone’s Group Policy & Public Affairs team and has global responsibility for telecom network policy. This involves working with regional and national policymakers and regulators to create an environment that supports investment, innovation, and sustainable competition across fixed and mobile networks. He manages the company’s spectrum licensing activities across Europe and Africa, including all licence valuation, acquisition, and renewal activities.
Stephen studied Engineering at Cambridge and worked previously in the Japanese technology sector and internationally as a strategy consultant in the telecom and media sector.
Spectrum sharing provides a complementary approach to exclusive licensing and, if planned correctly, can increase the efficiency of spectrum and open up access to bandwidth for emerging services, including in bands that cannot be cleared of incumbent services. To date however, whilst there has been much talk in Europe about spectrum sharing, we are behind both the US and Asia when it comes to implementing concrete sharing solutions, and have arguably had difficulty in identifying the best technical and economic models to use. This session will examine the approach to spectrum sharing that is being seen in Europe, at how this compares to that taken in other regions, and whether there is an argument that we should be taking a more adventurous approach. It will look at the different sharing models and environments that are available and examine current attitudes to sharing across member states and different industry sectors. By identifying some of the factors that have delayed the implementation of sharing to date, it will look at what needs to be done to address the challenges and move forward the development of a wide-scale harmonised shared spectrum regime across Europe.
Since joining Analysys Mason in 2014, Chris has developed particular expertise in wireless technologies and spectrum, as well as cost modelling and geo-analysis for telecoms networks. Chris has worked on a large range of spectrum projects, such as valuation and auction strategy for mobile spectrum including costing of coverage obligations, 5G and 6G spectrum analysis (assessing bands from 400MHz to sub-THz), and spectrum projects for non-mobile telecoms technologies including satellite, microwave links, PPDR and many others. Chris maintains the company’s Spectrum Auction Tracker, a database of concluded and planned mobile spectrum auctions. He has experience in cost modelling developing long-run incremental cost (LRIC) models (for both fixed and mobile networks) in a number of markets around the world, as well as modelling the cost (and benefit) of 5G deployment. Chris also has extensive experience of geographic information systems (GIS) modelling for telecoms analysis in a range of contexts.
Chris joined Analysys Mason after graduating with a first-class MSc in Physics from the University of Cambridge.
David Willis has been appointed Group Director, Spectrum, bringing 30 years of technology and telecom experience in government and industry to the role. David joins Ofcom’s Senior Management Team.
He joined Ofcom to oversee its Spectrum Group, which ensures that the UK’s wireless spectrum – a valuable, finite national resource – is used efficiently and effectively.
Most recently David was President of the Communications Research Centre, the Government of Canada’s research centre for advanced wireless telecommunications, spectrum management and helping to improve broadband services for Canadians.
Before this David led the Spectrum Engineering and Planning team at Innovation Science and Economic Development Canada. Here his work included international spectrum standards; wireless spectrum engineering and planning; satellite spectrum policy, licensing and coordination; and leading the Canadian delegation at the 2019 World Radio Communication Conference.
David has also held leadership roles in product management, operations and engineering at BlackBerry and Nortel Networks.
Joel Taubenblatt serves as the Chief of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau of the Federal Communications Commission. Mr. Taubenblatt has held several leadership positions in the Bureau, including Deputy Bureau Chief, Chief of the Competition and Infrastructure Policy Division, and Chief of the Broadband Division. He graduated from Duke University School of Law and from the University of Pennsylvania, with undergraduate degrees in Economics from the Wharton School and in English from the College of Arts and Sciences.
Luigi Ardito is currently working as Director of government affairs for Europe, Middle East and North Africa at Qualcomm and drives the 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 also gained 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.
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.
Dave played an instrumental role in the formation of the CBRS Alliance, collaborating with other founding members to create a robust multi-stakeholder organization focused on the optimization of LTE and 5G services in the CBRS band. He served as the Alliance’s first Secretary from its launch in August 2016 and was elected as the President of the Alliance in February 2018.
For his “day job”, Dave leads CommScope’s policy and standards initiatives, ensuring the intersection of CommScope’s technology and product innovations with suitable regulatory environments and technical specifications. Dave is a spectrum champion, advocating for unlicensed, licensed, and dynamic sharing frameworks – recognizing the vital role that all spectrum management regimes play in our increasingly wireless world.
Dave began his odyssey in networking/telecom/mobile/wireless in the early ‘90s while serving in the US Marine Corps. He then transitioned to the commercial sector as a systems engineer. In the intervening years he has spent much of his time in Technical Marketing, Standards Development, and Policy Advocacy. Dave is a Cisco Certified Internetworking Expert (CCIE) Emeritus (#2062), a Certified Wireless Network Administrator (CWNA), and a CBRS Certified Professional Installer (CPI).
The DTT broadcast, PMSE and mobile communities all see access to spectrum in the lower UHF (470—694 MHz) band as essential for their future connectivity needs. Work is currently ongoing at an RSPG level on the long-term future of the band beyond 2030, and a number of reports have also recently been released focussing on the same issues. Looking at the technological, service and market developments and likely future trends that can be expected both in these sectors and in spectrum databases and equipment over the next few years, this session will explore the different future scenarios that are being considered for the band, and more broadly at its likely long term future beyond 2030.
An engineer with broad experience in the telecoms and technology sectors, Andy has a particular interest in spectrum (auctions and valuation) and the impact of new technology (5G, AI, IoT and Big Data). He brings a deep understanding of both the industry and regulatory perspectives around the world through his role as Head of Policy for the GSMA and as Director of Spectrum Policy at Ofcom.
Andy spent 12 years at Vodafone, where he held various senior product development and corporate strategy roles. As Head of Spectrum, he was responsible for managing spectrum policy and auctions across the Vodafone Group. He led over twenty spectrum auctions around the world (including Turkey, Italy, Germany, India, Spain, Italy, Greece, Australia, Romania, NL and UK) from strategy/business case development to Plc. Board level sign-off and in-country implementation.
He was formerly a management consultant, has launched an internet payments and encryption company and worked as a research scientist at Sharp Laboratories of Europe and Sony Corporation, based in Japan. He has a doctorate in Engineering Science from Oxford University and an MBA. He is a frequent invited speaker at international conferences.
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 (www.anfr.fr).
In this capacity, he is responsible for preparing the revisions of the French national table of spectrum allocation and for coordinating French positions in international meetings and conferences on spectrum within ITU, CEPT and EU. He was deputy head of the French delegation for RRC-06, WRC-07, WRC-12, WRC-15 and WRC-19.
He is currently chairman of the RSPG, a high-level advisory group that assists the European Commission in the development of radio spectrum policy.
He has been involved in all discussions on major evolutions of spectrum in Europe and was Chairman of the Electronic Communication Committee (CEPT/ECC) from 2013 to 2018 and of the European Conference Preparatory Group for the World Radiocommunications Conference 2012 (CPG-12).
Eric is a graduate telecom engineer from SUPELEC (France).
Eiman Mohyeldin is the global Head of Spectrum Standardization for Nokia, responsible for defining and executing Nokia’s spectrum strategy and leading Nokia’s engagement on spectrum matters with customers, regulators, authorities, and partners in the ecosystem worldwide. She is actively involved in the World Radio Conference (WRC) process, participating in the WRC conferences and preparatory meetings (CPM). Eiman has also contributed to and led groups for the IMT technology process (4G, 5G, and recently 6G) in ITU and CEPT. Eiman is Co-Coordinator in CEPT NOW4WRC23 promoting gender equity and parity in CEPT and ITU.
One of the most discussed spectrum issues at the moment is the future of the upper 6GHz (6425- 7125 MHz) band, with stakeholders arguing strongly for it to be made available for either 5G mobile use or for licence-exempt (Wi-Fi, 5G NR-U) use. Looking at the current situation globally, some countries (e.g. US, Brazil, South Korea, and Saudi Arabia) have already allocated the band for unlicenced use; China has recently announced that it will licence at least part of the band for IMT; and many others are keeping their decisions on hold whilst waiting for the outcome from WRC-23 discussions. In Europe too, a number of different perspectives are being seen across member states, with the future use of the band not yet clear. As we move towards the vital WRC-23 in which key decisions are going to be taken for the future of the band, and against the backdrop of the RSPG an opinion and recommendations on the future of the band that were released at the end of last year, this session will look at the different visions that are taking shape in Europe (at both a regional and Member State level), and at the perspectives that are being seen around the rest of the world. With such varied approaches being seen, it will explore the extent to which a consensus on its use is likely to be reached (licenced, unlicenced or a solution that involves some element of sharing between the two), and at what is the best use of the key spectrum in the band for the long-term future of consumers and societies everywhere.
Lee has been at the forefront of spectrum developments across the world for more than 20 years, helping operators to bid in auctions and regulators to formulate spectrum policy.
Lee has over 20 years’ experience of advising operators, regulators and government bodies across a broad range of topics, including network sharing, fibre networks and transaction support. Notably, Lee has extensive expertise in spectrum issues and has led numerous projects to help operators to develop spectrum strategies and to value spectrum. He has supported operators to prepare for and bid in more than 25 spectrum auctions worldwide. He has also led several high-profile spectrum-related studies for leading regulators such as the European Commission, Ofcom (UK) and the IDA (Singapore).
In 2015/16 Lee was seconded to Telstra’s network strategy team, where he led a range of spectrum and network strategy projects.
Lee holds B.A. and M.Eng. degrees in Manufacturing Engineering, both from the University of Cambridge, UK.
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.
Detlef Fuehrer is the Senior Manager, Spectrum Management and Regulatory Affairs, EMEA in the CTO Office at Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company. His main responsibility is to set and drive HPE’s legislative & regulatory priorities for radio spectrum in EMEA and to execute all aspects of HPE’s EMEA strategy.
Prior to Aruba, Detlef managed the Spectrum Engineering activities of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre where he established the Radio Spectrum Lab. Holding a diploma in Electronics Engineering from Dortmund University, he worked in the semiconductor industry for almost 20 years, predominantly in the communications domain, at Alcatel, Texas Instruments, and Hitachi Electronic Components. Detlef authored the first German-language expert book on ADSL and published numerous studies on spectrum sharing and wireless coexistence.
Stephen is a member of Vodafone’s Group Policy & Public Affairs team and has global responsibility for telecom network policy. This involves working with regional and national policymakers and regulators to create an environment that supports investment, innovation, and sustainable competition across fixed and mobile networks. He manages the company’s spectrum licensing activities across Europe and Africa, including all licence valuation, acquisition, and renewal activities.
Stephen studied Engineering at Cambridge and worked previously in the Japanese technology sector and internationally as a strategy consultant in the telecom and media sector.
In Europe, the 5.9GHz band has been primarily allocated for use by Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), such as connected and autonomous vehicles, and to support the deployment of safe and efficient rail systems. There are 2 competing standards for road ITS – G5-ITS and Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X) technology, and with industry split in their support for these, no consensus has been reached on how to use the band in an interoperable way and therefore only very limited rollout has been seen. A similar situation in the US and Canada has seen moves towards reallocating the spectrum for unlicenced / WiFi use, given its position immediately below the 6Ghz band. This session will look at the current situation in the band and the work that is being done to find a consensus on the ITS standard in the band. Against this backdrop, it will explore the long-term future of the band, and at the best way forward to balance the competing demands for this valuable spectrum.
Throughout his 30+ years in the telecoms industry, Graham has been at the forefront of regulatory thinking on a wide range of issues from network cost modelling to spectrum management; he continues to provide expert advice on a range of topics to operators and regulators around the world.
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. Prior to joining Aetha in 2014, Graham was the Director of Spectrum Policy at Ofcom, responsible for mobile spectrum and auctions, as well as being a member of the Ofcom Senior Management Team. His early career was as a consultant with Analysys Consulting, ultimately as head of their regulatory practice worldwide.
Graham holds an M.A. and post-graduate qualifications in Mathematics from the University of Cambridge.
Franz Ziegelwanger is responsible for the national and international frequency management in Austria. Since 2010, he is head of the technical department within the directorate general telecommunications, post and mining within the Federal Ministry of Finance. The ranges of activities cover beside national activities under the telecommunications act (TKG) all general technical regulatory and operational questions for radio applications including standardisation within ETSI, which is essential for the operation of radio products and services. He also participates in ITU (International Telecommunications Union), in CEPT/ECC (Electronic Communications Committee) and in the high level Group for Radio Spectrum Policy in the European Commission (Radio Spectrum Policy Group – RSPG).
Andrea Mora is currently working as a Radio Spectrum Regulation Expert in the Agence Nationale des Fréquences (ANFR), the French public agency in charge of spectrum management. Andrea is actively participating, as French delegate, on the SRD-MG (Short-Range Devices Maintenance Group) and FM (Frequency Management) Groupe at CEPT/ECC level, dealing with spectrum for ITS, WAS/RLAN and UAS. She advises ANFR on the application of Radio spectrum Directive and participates on the EG-RE as French delegate at European Commission level. Andrea represents the French Ministry of Economics and Finances at ETSI level for the application of radio spectrum regulation framework in standardization equipment for WAS/RLAN.
Before joining ANFR, Andrea worked for Cullen International as analyst for the Colombian telecommunication and media sector. Prior to that, she worked as consultant lawyer for SMEs advising them in innovation related topics as intellectual property, personal data protection and contracts. She began his professional career as a radio spectrum engineer performing technical studies for the deployment of FM radio stations for different municipalities in Colombia.
Andrea is Telecom Engineer from University Santo Tomas (Colombia) and qualified lawyer (Colombian bar) from Pedagogical and Technological University of Colombia (UPTC) with Master in public law from the University of Poitiers (France) and Master in Space activities and Telecommunications Law from University of Paris Sud (France).
Dr. Flament represents 5GAA, the global cross-industry association for the development of connected and automated cars, where he has worked as Chief Technology Officer since April 2018. Maxime was working previously as Head of Department for Connected & Automated Driving (CAD) at ERTICO – ITS Europe, the European association promoting research and deployment on Intelligent Transportation Systems. For 15 years, he has been a leading contributor to many European activities on road safety, connected vehicles, automated driving, large-scale pilots, and digital mapping. Maxime holds a Ph.D. E.E. (2002) and M.Sc. E.E. (1997) from Chalmers Technical University, Sweden. He also holds an “Ingénieur Civil” degree from the Free university of Brussels (1997). In 2001, he was a visiting researcher at Stanford University, CA, USA.
Doctor El Khamis KADIRI, graduated in mechanical & energy from the Lorraine Polytechnic University (France), and microelectronic engineering from the Bordeaux University. He started his career as a Research Engineer in the Scientific Research National Center « CNRS ».
In 1998, he joined PSA Peugeot Citroën as Packaging and Assembly Expert. He covered various positions as a project leader in the new EE system conception and as a Technological Strategy Manager. Currently, he is responsible for the Connected Vehicle and EE Systems in PSA Groupe, in the innovation department.
This conference takes place in between the final 2 CEPT preparatory meetings for WRC-23, and as we enter this last period of preparation, most regional positions are now starting to become clear. This session will provide the opportunity to look at the areas in which European positions have now been fixed, and at those that are still under consideration. Focussing on key agenda items such as AI 1.2, 1.5 and 10, it will hear from both policymakers and industry stakeholders on the extent to which they support the common positions that are emerging on different agenda items, and on the work that they feel still needs to be done.
Laura is the in-house journalist at PolicyTracker, who focuses on spectrum policies in Europe. She joined the PolicyTracker editorial team in February 2022. Ever since, she has been reporting extensively about the latest CEPT decisions, covering 5G auctions in Europe and following the debates on the lower UHF and 6GHz bands.
She previously worked as a communications assistant at the European Parliament’s DG PRES in Brussels. As a freelance journalist, she contributed to several investigative features published by The Guardian, Deutsche Welle and worked on the international newsdesk of the Daily Mail.
Dr. Alexandre Kholod is Head of International Frequency Planning at the Swiss Federal Office of Communications OFCOM. In this role, he leads Swiss preparations for World Radiocommunication Conferences and is also responsible for international satellite coordination. Alexandre has assumed various chairing and drafting tasks in both CEPT and ITU.
He serves currently as Chairman of CEPT Conference Preparatory Group for WRC-23. Alexandre holds a PhD degree in mathematics and physics from the Belarussian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics and a Dr. Habilitation degree from the Aix-Marseille University.
Glyn Carter’s expertise spans a range of areas, including technology strategy, spectrum and other regulatory issues, standards, and the specification and procurement of voice and data terminals and services. Glyn’s knowledge of mobile telecoms technologies includes LTE, UMTS/HSPA, CDMA/EV-DO, GSM/GPRS and TETRA.
Glyn currently works in the Future Spectrum team at GSMA, preparing for the next ITU World Radio Communication Conference (WRC). In particular, Glyn is developing technical studies into compatibility and sharing between mobile and other services in spectrum bands. Before joining the GSMA in February 2012, Glyn spent over 10 years working for mobile operators in countries including Portugal, Romania and the UK.
As a consultant, Glyn has participated in numerous projects for regulators, operators and users of telecommunications, including replanning the radio spectrum in South Africa and other spectrum management projects for regulators in the UK, Japan, Sweden and Jordan. Glyn also undertook spectrum compatibility studies in CEPT and was editor of ECC Report 42 on spectrum efficiency. Before this, Glyn designed communication terminal products for Racal Electronics. Glyn has a bachelor of science degree in mathematics and a PhD in cryptography from London University.
Silke Lalvani has been working for Pearle* – Live Performance Europe, the European employers federation of live performance organisations, since 2010. Silke’s responsibilities include advocacy work at EU and international level (such as on ticketing, stage lighting, the European Green Deal, Digital Agenda etc.) with the aim to secure a sustainable development of live performance organisations. Before joining Pearle*,Silke worked at the Brussels office of the European Broadcasting Union. Until September 2008 she was engaged as a journalist at Radio France Internationale in Paris. She holds a Masters degree in Comparative Literature and a Masters degree in European Affairs.
Mr. Van Niftrik is Vice President, Spectrum Management & Development, EMEA. In this role, he is responsible for spectrum management and ITU related activities, with a focus on orbital assignment and spectrum utilization issues and proceedings for the EMEA region. He currently also acts as Chairman of ESOA’s ITU Working Group.
Mr. Van Niftrik has also worked in a number of other roles, such as Sales- and Capacity Management engineering. He joined SES in The Hague, The Netherlands, in August 2000 after having worked for three years in Madrid, Spain, on the precursor of the European satellite navigation system GALILEO.
He holds a Masters degree in Aerospace Engineering from the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands and is currently working from the SES Office in The Hague.
Martha Suarez was born in Bucaramanga, Colombia. She received her degree as Electronics Engineer from the Universidad Industrial de Santander in 2004. During her undergraduate studies she participated in an exchange program with the Ecole Superieure Chimie Physique Electronique de Lyon, France in 2001. She received her master degree in high frequency communication systems from the University of Marne-la-Vallee, France in 2006 and her Ph.D. degree from the University Paris-Est in 2009. She joined the department of Telecommunications and Signal Processing at the École Supérieure d’Ingénieurs en Électronique et Électrotechnique de Paris ESIEE and the Esycom Research Center where she worked on wireless transmitter architectures. In 2011 she was awarded with a Marie Curie Fellowship and worked at the Instytut Technologii Elektronowej ITE in Poland for the Partnership for Cognitive Radio Par4CR European Project. Her research interests were in the areas of wireless system architectures and the design of high performance Radio Frequency RF transceivers.
Since 2013 she joined the National Spectrum Agency in Colombia, ANE, where she worked as Senior Adviser to the General Director and supported international activities of the Agency. Afterwards, in December 2015, she became the General Director of ANE and continued promoting the efficient use of the Spectrum and the mobile broadband connectivity in Colombia.
Since the 1st of May 2019, Martha Suarez is the President of the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance DSA, a global organization advocating for laws and regulations that will lead to more efficient and effective spectrum utilization, which is essential to addressing key worldwide social and economic challenges.
Elena Puigrefagut, Senior Project Manager at the European Broadcasting Union, coordinates 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).
There has been growing momentum in Europe to use the 3.8-4.2GHz band for local private networks. A number of member states have already made spectrum in the band available on a local basis, and at a European level, CEPT is working on technical conditions to harmonise the band for local use, with the decision taken to use parameters seen in the UK and Norwegian approaches as a starting point for this. The band is also used by a number of incumbent users however, including fixed link and satellite services; and in addition to this, adjacent spectrum is used for broadband services below 3.8GHz, and by key services such as radio altimeters above 4.2GHz. This session will look at the work that is being done to explore the compatibility of local private networks with all these other key services, and the technical conditions that would need to be in place to ensure protection against interference. It will explore what a decision of this kind and the introduction of strict power level limits would mean for the long-term future of the band, and the extent to which it helps to meet the objective of obtaining the best socio-economic value from these key frequencies.
Jonathan supports telecoms operators and regulators in areas including 5G network strategy, spectrum valuation and cost modelling. In particular, he has managed the development of complex quantitative models used to help operators develop their approach to 5G and to prepare for 5G spectrum auctions.
Jonathan’s core expertise is in supporting clients to assess their spectrum strategy, often ahead of major spectrum awards. This includes regulatory support, spectrum valuation, network strategy and bid strategy work. He has also supported clients to develop their business plans, and to prepare network costing models ahead of regulatory processes.
Prior to joining Aetha, Jonathan studied Physical Sciences at the University of Cambridge.
After a state exam in law at the University of Osnabrück, Mr Kühn has been working since 1998 in the area of legal internship (e.g. at Regional Court) of the Federal Network Agency Germany; changing to National and International Spectrum Regulation on different levels in 2005. Nowadays, he is the Deputy Head of Section for International Affairs and Utilisation Concepts. His responsibilities cover strategic frequency utilisation concepts and the transposition of those to the international level of CEPT, EU and ITU. Doing this and having been active in the preparation of three WRC’s, on national and on CEPT CPG level, Mr Kühn participated in a number of international Groups, also as Head of the German Delegation. He has also chaired several groups and subgroups in the ITU and CEPT. Since 2005, he has been responsible for the German preparation of the WRC’s and served as CEPT CPG Vice Chairman from 2010 to 2013. Mr Kühn was appointed Chairman of CPG in June 2013.
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.
Javier Domínguez Lacasa is a Head of Spectrum Policy 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 15 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, and he has also been engaged on a wide range of other telecom policy issues. Prior to joining Telefónica he worked for Ericsson for 5 years.
Dr. Andreas Mueller is the Head of Communication and Network Technology in the Corporate Research Department of Robert Bosch GmbH in Stuttgart, Germany and at the same time the Bosch Chief Expert for Communication Technologies for the IoT. In addition to that, he is coordinating the Industrial 5G activities of Bosch across the different business units. He also serves as General Chair of the “5G Alliance for Connected Industries and Automation” (5G-ACIA), which is the globally leading organization for driving and shaping Industrial 5G.
Prior to joining Bosch, Andreas was a Research Staff Member at the Institute of Telecommunications of the University of Stuttgart, Germany, where he was contributing to the further development of the 3GPP Long Term Evolution towards LTE-Advanced. Besides, he was working as a Systems Engineer for Rohde & Schwarz, developing a novel software-defined radio based communication system for the German Armed Forces. Andreas holds a German Diploma degree as well as a Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering (with distinction) and a M.Sc. degree in Information Technology, all from the University of Stuttgart, Germany.
Axel holds a Diploma in electrical engineering from the Technical University Munich and a PhD from the University of the Federal Armed Forces Munich in the area of
microelectronics.
Before he joined Shure’s Spectrum & Regulatory Affairs department, he worked in Sennheiser’s research department, focusing on new wireless technologies, RF system design, hardware development, and standardization work in the field of wireless audio transmission. From 1999 to 2003, he joined Infineon Technologies, where he worked on the development of GSM transceiver circuits.
Kevin Eisenhauer is responsible for assisting Intelsat’s strategic long-term spectrum position in the marketplace. In his role, he works closely with the company’s senior management on corporate and spectrum strategy to analyze and identify emerging spectrum opportunities and risks for Intelsat. In addition, he supports and leads efforts from across the globe that protect, optimize and leverage the company’s spectrum assets in support of Intelsat’s broader long-term growth strategy.
Holding various positions in the past, Kevin has accumulated over 6 years’ experience within the satellite industry. Prior to joining Intelsat in 2021, Kevin served as a Regulatory Engineering Manager at Access Partnership, an international consultancy firm specialized in providing services in the telecommunications sector (Regulatory Compliance, Market Access, Public Policy). Kevin then joined the frequency management team at Airbus Defense and Space in Toulouse to support key strategy development for the Defense and Space industry. At Intelsat, Kevin continues to focus on strategic spectrum regulation supporting the company’s key operations interests. The combination of these experiences has provided Kevin with flexible and outside the box thinking as well as accumulated experience to navigate complex rules.
Kevin earned a Master’s Degree from ISAE-SUPAERO in Toulouse and a Master of Engineering (M.Eng.) from UC Berkeley in California. On a more personal note, Kevin frequently travelled and moved from one country to another (Gabon, Congo, England, Venezuela, USA, Malaysia, Angola and France). These experiences enable him to adapt to different mentalities, cultures and environments.
Intelsat S.A. (NYSE: I) is the world’s leading provider of satellite services, delivering high performance connectivity solutions for media, fixed and mobile broadband infrastructure, enterprise and government and military applications for more than 50 years. Intelsat’s satellite, teleport and fiber infrastructure is unmatched in the industry, setting the standard for transmissions of video and broadband services. From the globalization of content and the proliferation of HD to the expansion of cellular networks and mobile broadband access, with Intelsat, envision your future network, connect using our leading satellite technology and transform your opportunities.
Discussions are well underway on identifying the key spectrum bands to provide the required connectivity for the initial rollout of 6G. The mobile industry is targeting spectrum in the 7-15GHz range to deliver the additional bandwidth that they say will be required (supplemented with sub-terahertz frequencies in the 92—114 GHz and 130-175 GHz for niche scenarios). Spectrum in this target range is however already intensively used by many well-established services, including satellite, commercial radar, fixed links services and more, and opening the band for IMT use would not be simple. There are also differences between the usage across different sections of the range Europe and elsewhere in the world, meaning that a divergence in global approaches is a strong possibility. Against this backdrop, and ahead of WRC-23, which will identify spectrum to be studied for 6G at WRC-27, this session will look at the early work that is being done in order to deliver a strategic spectrum roadmap for 6G. It will examine the candidate bands and the likely timeframe ahead as stakeholders across the region look to identify the spectrum to drive forward the European 6G vision.
Matthew Newman is a chief correspondent for MLex and writes about data protection, privacy, telecoms, cyber security, and artificial intelligence. Matthew began his journalism career in 1991 in community newspapers. He worked as a reporter in Riga, Latvia, in 1993 and then moved to Chicago, where he covered local news. In 1995, he became a personal finance reporter for Dow Jones Newswires, and he was then transferred to Brussels in 1999. He specialized in EU regulatory affairs, including trade and telecom issues. He began covering competition for Bloomberg News as an EU court reporter in 2004. In 2010, he was named spokesman for Viviane Reding, the EU’s justice commissioner. In January 2012, he helped launch the commission’s proposal for overall data protection rules.
Matthew began working at MLex in April 2012 and has covered mergers, antitrust, and state-aid cases. He spent a year studying French, history, and communications in Grenoble, France, in 1988 and 1989, and is a graduate of Boston University with degrees in history and journalism. He earned a diploma in competition law from King’s College in 2016.
Christos K. Datsikas holds a PhD in Telecommunications and he has been working in DG Connect of the European Commission since 2017 as a Policy Officer on spectrum related issues. From June 2011 to June 2016, he was the Greek Telecom Attaché responsible for Telecommunications, Information Society, Postal Services and Satellite Radio Navigation Systems (Galileo-EGNOS) in all legislative and non-legislative settings. Prior to that, he had worked for more than 10 years as an ICT expert, Consultant and Special Advisor in both the private and public sectors. From 2018, he is Senior Research Associate, member of the Laboratory Teaching Staff of the University of Athens – Faculty of Informatics and Telecommunications. Dr. Datsikas’s research interests are in the area of wireless digital communications, and more specifically in MIMO and cooperative diversity systems, fading channels, and communication theory. His proven track record includes more than 15 papers in peer-reviewed journals and international conferences.
Dr. Heidi Himmanen is a Chief Adviser at the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom. Her tasks include promoting the uptake of wireless communications, especially 5G, in different sectors, such as transport, cities, and industry. The work includes supporting R&D and innovation and bridging the needs of the spectrum users with the development work in spectrum management. Heidi has previously worked as Head of Spectrum Supervision and Head of Radio Networks Unit at Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority (today Traficom).
She holds a D.Sc. (Tech.) degree in Telecommunications Engineering from the University of Turku, Finland, and an M.Sc. (Tech.) degree in Telecommunications Engineering from Helsinki University of Technology (today Aalto University), Finland.
Eliane Semaan is a Senior Researcher at Ericsson. She received her M.Sc. degree in wireless systems from the Royal Institute of Technology and joined Ericsson in 2011. She is currently working on spectrum regulations and involved in different CEPT ECC groups, focusing on the introduction of 5G in Europe. She has been involved in the 3GPP standardization work for several releases of the 4G and 5G standards, focusing on physical layer enhancements (RAN1) and coexistence studies (RAN4).
Hazem Moakkit is a veteran of the satellite industry where he has worked for over 22 years in various capacities. He currently serves as the Vice President for Spectrum Development at O3b Networks where he leads the creation and implementation of O3b’s global spectrum strategy.
Prior to O3b, Hazem spent 5 years at Yahsat in the United Arab Emirates as the Director of Regulatory & Spectrum Affairs where he successfully created and managed the Spectrum Strategy and led the acquisition of licenses and key orbital assets for the startup operator. He was also instrumental in devising the business strategy for Yahsat.
Early on in his career, Hazem held various engineering and spectrum positions at Intelsat, PanAmSat, and ATCI. Hazem holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Arizona State University, an MBA degree from Georgetown University.
The last few years have seen a huge swathe of 5G auctions all around the world, and whilst in some regions these are still continuing at pace, in Europe the indications are that there are now trends towards this ‘cycle’ of 5G auctions coming to an end. Against this backdrop, this session will look at what has been learnt from the 5G auctions that have been seen, and what can be expected to come next. It will look at the situation regarding licence renewals across the region and the best approach to this, as well as looking forward towards the 6G spectrum cycle and at how approaches evolve.
Jonas Wessel is Director of the Spectrum Department at the Swedish Post and Telecom Agency (PTS). He is also Chair of the Radio Spectrum Policy Group (RSPG) for the 2018-2019 period. The RSPG is a high-level advisory group that assists the European Commission in the development of radio spectrum policy. Jonas holds a MSC from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Industrial Engineering and Management. Jonas started his professional career as a strategy consultant, working mainly with business development in the telecoms and IT-sector.
In 2003, he joined the PTS as advisor on radio spectrum policy issues. After several positions within the Agency, including responsibility for auctions, he was assigned Director of the Spectrum Department in 2014. Jonas has been one of the driving forces behind the transformation of spectrum management in Sweden and has also been working with these issues internationally, mainly through the RSPG where he has been a delegate since 2004. He was Vice Chairman of the RSPG for the 2016-2017 period.
Richard Marsden specializes in market design, including auctions and trading, bidding strategy, and related competition, pricing, regulatory, and public policy issues. He applies this expertise to multiple industries, including broadcasting, energy, mobile telephony, procurement, radio spectrum, technology, and transport to help his clients create or participate in new marketplaces.
Over the last 20 years, Mr. Marsden has provided guidance to regulators, private companies, and law firms in more than 50 countries. His teams at NERA are particularly well known for their work on the design and implementation of high-value auctions and the development of effective bid strategies. To support this work, the team has developed a suite of software tools for running, simulating, and analyzing auctions.
In the communications sector, Mr. Marsden’s experience includes auction design and implementation, bid strategy advisory work, expert witness reports, and litigation support concerning spectrum allocation, spectrum pricing, spectrum valuation, and mobile market competition. He has advised clients on spectrum auction design and implementation for 4G and 5G mobile spectrum in Belgium, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and South Africa. Mr. Marsden has also provided bid strategy advice to mobile operators participating in auctions for 4G and 5G mobile frequencies in more than 30 countries, including spectrum auctions in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Spain, the UK, and the US. This work often includes developing or critiquing valuation models. He has also advised on auctions procuring subsidies for broadband rollout.
In the energy sector, Mr. Marsden has designed auctions for electricity interconnection capacity, offshore wind generation sites, and gas pipeline capacity. Additionally, he has advised energy companies participating in capacity markets and offshore wind auctions.
In the technology sector, Mr. Marsden has advised companies on the design of auctions for procurement processes, pricing of used products for resale, and regulatory processes for inducing competition in vertically integrated markets.
Mr. Marsden frequently presents and publishes on topics related to market design, auctions, the communications industry, and spectrum management. He has completed major studies for the GSMA on spectrum pricing and for the European Commission on the transfer of digital dividend spectrum from broadcast to mobile use and on spectrum trading and spectrum liberalization. He contributed a chapter to the Handbook of Spectrum Auction Design on combinatorial auctions and is the co-author of Broadband in Europe: How Brussels Can Wire the Information Society.
Stefan Zehle is the co-founder and CEO of Coleago. He has 29 years’ experience in telecoms consulting and as Director of a mobile operating company. He specialises in strategy and business planning, spectrum related issues such as spectrum policy, valuation and auctions, and telecoms regulatory topics.
He gained his experience working in developed markets in Europe, Canada and the US and also in emerging markets in the Middle East, Africa, and the Far East.
Recent publications include the report “Estimating the mid-band spectrum needs in the 2025 – 2030 time frame”, for the GSMA (2021) and “The need for sub-1 GHz spectrum to deliver the vision of 5G”, for the GSMA (2022).
As Director of Strategy, Marketing and Regulatory Affairs, Stefan launched the 3rd mobile operator in Algeria. He developed the strategy, recruited other Directors and 200 staff, built the Sales and Marketing Department, and managed the brand creation. He challenged the regulatory status quo, transforming the interconnect landscape in Algeria by introducing best practice interconnect agreements. He filed regulatory complaints, winning million dollar cost savings.
Stefan is the co-author of “Guide to Business Planning”, published by “The Economist”, (“Outstanding Academic Title, 2009” awarded by Choice, the US academic reviewers. He holds an MBA (with distinction) awarded by the University of Westminster in 1991 and speaks French, English, and German.
The overarching goals of increasing sustainability and tackling climate change has become a key objective across almost all areas of European policy. Whilst in the past, sustainability has arguably not been a key consideration when making decisions on spectrum policy, there are signs that this is changing. Work has recently been conducted at the RSPG level on the role of spectrum in helping to tackle climate change, and the issue of sustainability was also brought up as part of the Commission’s Connectivity Package, released at the start of this year. Against this backdrop, this session will explore the relationship between spectrum policy and climate change. It will discuss the different ways in which decisions taken around spectrum can impact energy consumption and carbon emissions, and at how policymakers and industry representatives can ensure that sustainability is factored into decisions that are being made around networking planning and rollout, and around spectrum more broadly.
• What role can spectrum policy play in helping to tackle climate change, and which are the key areas in which decisions can have the most impact?
• To what extent are regulators currently considering issues relating to sustainability and climate change when looking to make decisions on spectrum allocation and assignment?
• How can it be ensured that decisions taken on the management and allocation spectrum policy are aligned with broader EU targets on sustainability and climate?
• To what extent can different licencing approaches (licenced, local licenced, unlicenced, shared) help to play a part in tackling the problem the problem?
• What were the key outcomes from the recent RSPG opinion in this area, and what will be the likely next steps?
• What metrics and indicators are currently available to gauge the impact of wireless technologies on the climate? How can it be ensured that the necessary data and information is available to help guide policymakers and connectivity providers towards making more sustainable decisions?
• As focus switches towards 6G, to what extent is there a need to explore an alternative approach to frequency management in order to increase possible carbon savings?
Abhaya is a results-driven and influential leader with extensive experience developing and delivering forward-looking spectrum strategies and policies. Abhaya currently leads the Spectrum and Regulatory Practice at Real Wireless and is the Chairman of the UK Spectrum Policy Forum (UK SPF). He has over 20 years of hands-on experience successfully leading radio spectrum/regulatory work and techno-economic analysis within national regulatory authorities, MNOs and vendors.
Previously Abhaya led and delivered multimillion-pound strategic network capacity programmes at Three UK. He has also played an influential role in maintaining UK propositions and developing spectrum policies at Ofcom. As a consulting leader, Abhaya has hands-on experience delivering excellence by leading multi-disciplinary teams in various markets. Abhaya is a regular speaker at industry events and a University lecturer. As a volunteer, Abhaya chaired several IET local networks. Currently, he Chairs the Great Debate Committee and serves as a UK IET Communities Committee member overseeing 7 IET Local Networks in the Region.
Mr. Jakub Zagdanski provides economic analysis on themes related to mobile connectivity, including estimates of the economic, environmental, and social impacts of mobile connectivity. He is a specialist in quantitative methods, such as economic modelling, econometrics, and big data analytics.
Rory Hinchy is a Senior Radio Spectrum Advisor within the Irish Ministry “Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications”.
He has been a co-chair of the Radio Spectrum Policy group sub group on Climate Change since 2020 and a member of the RSPG since 2013. He has been working in the area of international and European radio spectrum policy since July 2006, attending the ITU World Radiocommunication Conferences since 2007. Prior to July 2006 he managed the VHF and UHF Broadcasting spectrum (Radio and TV) in Ireland for 11 years, including international co-ordination and preparation for the ITU Regional Radio Communications Conferences in 2004 and 2006.
Rory has a degree in Electronic Engineering from University College Dublin and spent 6 years in the private sector before commencing his career in public sector radio spectrum management and policy.
Sylvain is a Principal at our Paris office and has been working in the telecoms sector for almost 15 years. He has managed projects across a broad range of areas, including strategic assessments and business planning, regulatory projects and due diligence assignments.
Sylvain holds a Master’s degree from Ecole Normale Supérieure Paris-Saclay and an Applied Physics PhD from Université Paris-Saclay.
Sylvain’s areas of expertise include:
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 specialised on spectrum policy.
Mr. Jakub Zagdanski provides economic analysis on themes related to mobile connectivity, including estimates of the economic, environmental, and social impacts of mobile connectivity. He is a specialist in quantitative methods, such as economic modelling, econometrics, and big data analytics.
Renate Nikolay is now Deputy Director-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology. Previously, she was Head of Cabinet of Vera Jourova, Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality. She led the Unit of inter institutional and international relations in DG Justice between 2011 and 2014 dealing with legislative files and international negotiations such as the ones on data protection with the US. Prior to that, she was advisor in the Cabinet of the first High Representative / Vice President Cathy Ashton where she led on the relations with the European Parliament in setting up the European External Action Service and on relations with Asia, in particular China. From 2004-2009 she was member of the Cabinet of the Trade Commissioners Peter Mandelson and Baroness Cathy Ashton where she followed the trade talks in the multilateral trade round of the World Trade Organisation (the Doha Round) and the EU-South Korea Free Trade Agreement which was finalised in 2009. She started her career in the European Commission in the Directorate General for Trade in November 2003 dealing with the accession negotiations of Vietnam to the World Trade Organisation and the Trade Policy Committee with the Member States. Prior to that she was a diplomat in the German Permanent Representation in Brussels and worked as private Secretary to the German G8 Sherpa in the German Ministry of Economics. She holds a law degree (Erstes und Zweites Staatsexamen) from the Free University in Berlin and a master as a Fulbright Scholar in Washington DC. She was also an Erasmus Scholar in France/Grenoble.
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 (www.anfr.fr).
In this capacity, he is responsible for preparing the revisions of the French national table of spectrum allocation and for coordinating French positions in international meetings and conferences on spectrum within ITU, CEPT and EU. He was deputy head of the French delegation for RRC-06, WRC-07, WRC-12, WRC-15 and WRC-19.
He is currently chairman of the RSPG, a high-level advisory group that assists the European Commission in the development of radio spectrum policy.
He has been involved in all discussions on major evolutions of spectrum in Europe and was Chairman of the Electronic Communication Committee (CEPT/ECC) from 2013 to 2018 and of the European Conference Preparatory Group for the World Radiocommunications Conference 2012 (CPG-12).
Eric is a graduate telecom engineer from SUPELEC (France).
The first Radio Spectrum Policy Programme (RSPP) has been instrumental in shaping spectrum policy and thinking in Europe since its launch in 2012. Now, more than 10 years on, a new RSPP is being prepared to update and revise the guidelines and provide a spectrum framework for Europe that is designed for the 5G era and beyond. An impact assessment study and a public consultation are expected to have been launched by the time of this event, with the Commission aiming to deliver their proposal for the RSPP by the end of September this year. This session will explore what the key aims and objectives of the RSPP should be. Taking into account the extensive technological and regulatory developments that have been seen over the past decade, it will look at what updates and adjustments need to be made in order to deliver a forward-looking roadmap for spectrum in Europe that is suitable for today’s 5G society and beyond.
An engineer with broad experience in the telecoms and technology sectors, Andy has a particular interest in spectrum (auctions and valuation) and the impact of new technology (5G, AI, IoT and Big Data). He brings a deep understanding of both the industry and regulatory perspectives around the world through his role as Head of Policy for the GSMA and as Director of Spectrum Policy at Ofcom.
Andy spent 12 years at Vodafone, where he held various senior product development and corporate strategy roles. As Head of Spectrum, he was responsible for managing spectrum policy and auctions across the Vodafone Group. He led over twenty spectrum auctions around the world (including Turkey, Italy, Germany, India, Spain, Italy, Greece, Australia, Romania, NL and UK) from strategy/business case development to Plc. Board level sign-off and in-country implementation.
He was formerly a management consultant, has launched an internet payments and encryption company and worked as a research scientist at Sharp Laboratories of Europe and Sony Corporation, based in Japan. He has a doctorate in Engineering Science from Oxford University and an MBA. He is a frequent invited speaker at international conferences.
More information available shortly.
Jonas Wessel is Director of the Spectrum Department at the Swedish Post and Telecom Agency (PTS). He is also Chair of the Radio Spectrum Policy Group (RSPG) for the 2018-2019 period. The RSPG is a high-level advisory group that assists the European Commission in the development of radio spectrum policy. Jonas holds a MSC from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Industrial Engineering and Management. Jonas started his professional career as a strategy consultant, working mainly with business development in the telecoms and IT-sector.
In 2003, he joined the PTS as advisor on radio spectrum policy issues. After several positions within the Agency, including responsibility for auctions, he was assigned Director of the Spectrum Department in 2014. Jonas has been one of the driving forces behind the transformation of spectrum management in Sweden and has also been working with these issues internationally, mainly through the RSPG where he has been a delegate since 2004. He was Vice Chairman of the RSPG for the 2016-2017 period.
Natalia Vicente is the Director of Public Affairs & Communications at GSOA where she works closely with the Director General and the CEOs of GSOA Member companies to drive forward high-level advocacy for the satellite communications sector. Specifically, Natalia focusses on the Development Agenda working with international organisations to ensure nation states understand the value of leveraging available satellite communications services to bridge digital, education and health divides in their countries.
Natalia is also a Board Member of the European Internet Forum where she represents GSOA in front of Members of the European Parliament. Natalia has over a decade of experience in the digital sector, focusing on public policy, government relations and building international partnerships.
Before joining GSOA, former ESOA, Natalia worked for the European Telecommunications Network Operator’s (ETNO) working on public and regulatory affairs. Prior to that, she worked for Telefonica, Telecom Italia and TagTagCity, where she was one of the first employees involved in establishing a start-up venture providing mobile solutions to municipalities and local businesses in Belgium.
Natalia is a qualified lawyer with an LLM from the University Autonoma of Madrid and holds a Master of Business Administration specialised in Marketing. She is a Spanish national, lives in Brussels and speaks 4 languages.
Dr Guillaume Lebrun has been an active member of the spectrum community for more than 15 years, working for Orange, Qualcomm, Airbus and now Meta. Dr Lebrun contributed to key international spectrum projects such the opening of the 6 GHz band to Wi-Fi 6E and the 3.6 GHz for 5G.
Dr Lebrun is a member of the Global Connectivity Policy team at Meta where he is working on several spectrum initiatives to improve connectivity. Raising spectrum efficiency and availability is at the core of Guillaume’s mission.
Dr Lebrun holds an Engineering degree from ENST, Paris, France and a PhD in telecommunications from Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia.
The global space and satellite sector is evolving massively with a large number of innovative new technologies, services and business models emerging. One area that is already seeing significant interest is direct-to-device satellite connectivity – satellite and mobile operators partnering to connect satellites directly to phones or IoT sensors. Whilst the potential of this is huge, it also raises a number of regulatory and technical challenges, not least when considering the best way to meet the spectrum requirements of these new hybrid networks. Two distinct approaches are emerging – some companies are looking to use spectrum already allocated for mobile satellite services, whilst others are looking to re-use mobile spectrum bands that they would access through partnerships with MNOs. This session will look at the benefits, drawbacks and challenges associated with these two approaches, as well as looking more broadly at the hurdles that will need to be overcome in order to deliver on the potential of this exciting new technology.
Aarti Holla-Maini joined ESOA in 2004. She was named one of the Faces of Satellite of 2014 by the Society of Satellite Professionals International and is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council for Space where she served as Vice-Chair from 2013 – 2014.
Ms. Holla-Maini has nineteen years’ experience in the aerospace industry, starting at Daimler-Benz Aerospace (now Airbus Defense & Space) in Germany. She moved to Brussels in 2000 to represent former Astrium in the Galileo Industries joint venture towards European institutions on the European satellite navigation system Galileo, working on the development of the public-private partnership scheme and other management aspects of the Galileo programme. Since her MBA she has organized workshops on negotiation skills for young managers and remains an active alumnus of HEC.
Ms. Holla-Maini holds a Masters of Business Administration from HEC, France & Stern Business School, NY, USA. She qualified as Solicitor of the Supreme Court in the UK in 1995, holding a LLB Hons Law with German Law degree from King’s College, University of London & the University of Passau, Germany. Aarti lives in Brussels, has 3 children and speaks 5 languages.
Mr. Ciccorossi is a Senior Radio Communications Engineer with over 25 years of experience in satellite communications and regulations. Since he joined the Space Services Department at the ITU in 2002, he has been responsible for technical-regulatory examinations of GSO and NGSO satellite systems projects submitted by ITU Member States for coordination and notification, and for the analysis of cases of harmful interference.
He Chaired the recent 22nd. International Space Radio Monitoring Meeting (ISRMM) in September 2021. He has also acted as Head of the Satellite Systems Coordination Division at the ITU and represented it before the Radio Regulations Board.
He was the Counsellor of the recent CPM23-2 DG-Plenary on future topics for WRC-27 as well as of the WG-6C at the World Radio Communication Conference 2012, and has been speaker representing the ITU Radio Communications Bureau at WRCs since 2003, as well as at CITEL, ICAO, Eurocontrol, UNOOSA, the Regulatory Expert Group of the ISRMM, IAC 2021 and 2022, ITU-R Study Groups, and IEEE.
Mr. Ciccorossi has conceived the first (and unique) Intergovernmental Online Platform to Report RFI cases affecting Satellite System (SIRRS), assisting 193 ITU Member States in its resolution. He also advices Administrations and Satellite Operators on technical-regulatory aspects of space services.
Mr. Ciccorossi holds the degree of engineer in electronics from the National University of Technology (UTN) in Buenos Aires, an Executive Certificate in Management and Leadership from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US, and has studied satellite communications and spacecraft design at the University of Surrey in the UK.
Born in Buenos Aires in 1967, Mr Ciccorossi holds Swiss, Italian and Argentinean nationalities.
After a state exam in law at the University of Osnabrück, Mr Kühn has been working since 1998 in the area of legal internship (e.g. at Regional Court) of the Federal Network Agency Germany; changing to National and International Spectrum Regulation on different levels in 2005. Nowadays, he is the Deputy Head of Section for International Affairs and Utilisation Concepts. His responsibilities cover strategic frequency utilisation concepts and the transposition of those to the international level of CEPT, EU and ITU. Doing this and having been active in the preparation of three WRC’s, on national and on CEPT CPG level, Mr Kühn participated in a number of international Groups, also as Head of the German Delegation. He has also chaired several groups and subgroups in the ITU and CEPT. Since 2005, he has been responsible for the German preparation of the WRC’s and served as CEPT CPG Vice Chairman from 2010 to 2013. Mr Kühn was appointed Chairman of CPG in June 2013.
Ivan helps businesses with their Space and Spectrum strategies globally from a policy and regulatory angle and with a focus on emerging technologies.
In recent years, Ivan assisted satellite operators and new space ventures with global market access, ITU support, project management, and business strategy.
Prior to joining Access Partnership, he spent more than 10 years in corporate affairs, institutional relations, policy analysis, political reporting, and advocacy. He previously worked for the Telecommunications Division at Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC.
Ivan holds an MSc from the University of Cape Town, an MRes from the University of London, a BSc-BA from Universidad Complutense (Madrid) and Mid-Sweden University, and a BSc from UNED-Spain. He speaks Spanish, English, and Portuguese.
Hazem Moakkit is a veteran of the satellite industry where he has worked for over 22 years in various capacities. He currently serves as the Vice President for Spectrum Development at O3b Networks where he leads the creation and implementation of O3b’s global spectrum strategy.
Prior to O3b, Hazem spent 5 years at Yahsat in the United Arab Emirates as the Director of Regulatory & Spectrum Affairs where he successfully created and managed the Spectrum Strategy and led the acquisition of licenses and key orbital assets for the startup operator. He was also instrumental in devising the business strategy for Yahsat.
Early on in his career, Hazem held various engineering and spectrum positions at Intelsat, PanAmSat, and ATCI. Hazem holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Arizona State University, an MBA degree from Georgetown University.
Stephen is a member of Vodafone’s Group Policy & Public Affairs team and has global responsibility for telecom network policy. This involves working with regional and national policymakers and regulators to create an environment that supports investment, innovation, and sustainable competition across fixed and mobile networks. He manages the company’s spectrum licensing activities across Europe and Africa, including all licence valuation, acquisition, and renewal activities.
Stephen studied Engineering at Cambridge and worked previously in the Japanese technology sector and internationally as a strategy consultant in the telecom and media sector.
Spectrum sharing provides a complementary approach to exclusive licensing and, if planned correctly, can increase the efficiency of spectrum and open up access to bandwidth for emerging services, including in bands that cannot be cleared of incumbent services. To date however, whilst there has been much talk in Europe about spectrum sharing, we are behind both the US and Asia when it comes to implementing concrete sharing solutions, and have arguably had difficulty in identifying the best technical and economic models to use. This session will examine the approach to spectrum sharing that is being seen in Europe, at how this compares to that taken in other regions, and whether there is an argument that we should be taking a more adventurous approach. It will look at the different sharing models and environments that are available and examine current attitudes to sharing across member states and different industry sectors. By identifying some of the factors that have delayed the implementation of sharing to date, it will look at what needs to be done to address the challenges and move forward the development of a wide-scale harmonised shared spectrum regime across Europe.
Since joining Analysys Mason in 2014, Chris has developed particular expertise in wireless technologies and spectrum, as well as cost modelling and geo-analysis for telecoms networks. Chris has worked on a large range of spectrum projects, such as valuation and auction strategy for mobile spectrum including costing of coverage obligations, 5G and 6G spectrum analysis (assessing bands from 400MHz to sub-THz), and spectrum projects for non-mobile telecoms technologies including satellite, microwave links, PPDR and many others. Chris maintains the company’s Spectrum Auction Tracker, a database of concluded and planned mobile spectrum auctions. He has experience in cost modelling developing long-run incremental cost (LRIC) models (for both fixed and mobile networks) in a number of markets around the world, as well as modelling the cost (and benefit) of 5G deployment. Chris also has extensive experience of geographic information systems (GIS) modelling for telecoms analysis in a range of contexts.
Chris joined Analysys Mason after graduating with a first-class MSc in Physics from the University of Cambridge.
David Willis has been appointed Group Director, Spectrum, bringing 30 years of technology and telecom experience in government and industry to the role. David joins Ofcom’s Senior Management Team.
He joined Ofcom to oversee its Spectrum Group, which ensures that the UK’s wireless spectrum – a valuable, finite national resource – is used efficiently and effectively.
Most recently David was President of the Communications Research Centre, the Government of Canada’s research centre for advanced wireless telecommunications, spectrum management and helping to improve broadband services for Canadians.
Before this David led the Spectrum Engineering and Planning team at Innovation Science and Economic Development Canada. Here his work included international spectrum standards; wireless spectrum engineering and planning; satellite spectrum policy, licensing and coordination; and leading the Canadian delegation at the 2019 World Radio Communication Conference.
David has also held leadership roles in product management, operations and engineering at BlackBerry and Nortel Networks.
Joel Taubenblatt serves as the Chief of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau of the Federal Communications Commission. Mr. Taubenblatt has held several leadership positions in the Bureau, including Deputy Bureau Chief, Chief of the Competition and Infrastructure Policy Division, and Chief of the Broadband Division. He graduated from Duke University School of Law and from the University of Pennsylvania, with undergraduate degrees in Economics from the Wharton School and in English from the College of Arts and Sciences.
Luigi Ardito is currently working as Director of government affairs for Europe, Middle East and North Africa at Qualcomm and drives the 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 also gained 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.
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.
Dave played an instrumental role in the formation of the CBRS Alliance, collaborating with other founding members to create a robust multi-stakeholder organization focused on the optimization of LTE and 5G services in the CBRS band. He served as the Alliance’s first Secretary from its launch in August 2016 and was elected as the President of the Alliance in February 2018.
For his “day job”, Dave leads CommScope’s policy and standards initiatives, ensuring the intersection of CommScope’s technology and product innovations with suitable regulatory environments and technical specifications. Dave is a spectrum champion, advocating for unlicensed, licensed, and dynamic sharing frameworks – recognizing the vital role that all spectrum management regimes play in our increasingly wireless world.
Dave began his odyssey in networking/telecom/mobile/wireless in the early ‘90s while serving in the US Marine Corps. He then transitioned to the commercial sector as a systems engineer. In the intervening years he has spent much of his time in Technical Marketing, Standards Development, and Policy Advocacy. Dave is a Cisco Certified Internetworking Expert (CCIE) Emeritus (#2062), a Certified Wireless Network Administrator (CWNA), and a CBRS Certified Professional Installer (CPI).
The DTT broadcast, PMSE and mobile communities all see access to spectrum in the lower UHF (470—694 MHz) band as essential for their future connectivity needs. Work is currently ongoing at an RSPG level on the long-term future of the band beyond 2030, and a number of reports have also recently been released focussing on the same issues. Looking at the technological, service and market developments and likely future trends that can be expected both in these sectors and in spectrum databases and equipment over the next few years, this session will explore the different future scenarios that are being considered for the band, and more broadly at its likely long term future beyond 2030.
An engineer with broad experience in the telecoms and technology sectors, Andy has a particular interest in spectrum (auctions and valuation) and the impact of new technology (5G, AI, IoT and Big Data). He brings a deep understanding of both the industry and regulatory perspectives around the world through his role as Head of Policy for the GSMA and as Director of Spectrum Policy at Ofcom.
Andy spent 12 years at Vodafone, where he held various senior product development and corporate strategy roles. As Head of Spectrum, he was responsible for managing spectrum policy and auctions across the Vodafone Group. He led over twenty spectrum auctions around the world (including Turkey, Italy, Germany, India, Spain, Italy, Greece, Australia, Romania, NL and UK) from strategy/business case development to Plc. Board level sign-off and in-country implementation.
He was formerly a management consultant, has launched an internet payments and encryption company and worked as a research scientist at Sharp Laboratories of Europe and Sony Corporation, based in Japan. He has a doctorate in Engineering Science from Oxford University and an MBA. He is a frequent invited speaker at international conferences.
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 (www.anfr.fr).
In this capacity, he is responsible for preparing the revisions of the French national table of spectrum allocation and for coordinating French positions in international meetings and conferences on spectrum within ITU, CEPT and EU. He was deputy head of the French delegation for RRC-06, WRC-07, WRC-12, WRC-15 and WRC-19.
He is currently chairman of the RSPG, a high-level advisory group that assists the European Commission in the development of radio spectrum policy.
He has been involved in all discussions on major evolutions of spectrum in Europe and was Chairman of the Electronic Communication Committee (CEPT/ECC) from 2013 to 2018 and of the European Conference Preparatory Group for the World Radiocommunications Conference 2012 (CPG-12).
Eric is a graduate telecom engineer from SUPELEC (France).
Eiman Mohyeldin is the global Head of Spectrum Standardization for Nokia, responsible for defining and executing Nokia’s spectrum strategy and leading Nokia’s engagement on spectrum matters with customers, regulators, authorities, and partners in the ecosystem worldwide. She is actively involved in the World Radio Conference (WRC) process, participating in the WRC conferences and preparatory meetings (CPM). Eiman has also contributed to and led groups for the IMT technology process (4G, 5G, and recently 6G) in ITU and CEPT. Eiman is Co-Coordinator in CEPT NOW4WRC23 promoting gender equity and parity in CEPT and ITU.
One of the most discussed spectrum issues at the moment is the future of the upper 6GHz (6425- 7125 MHz) band, with stakeholders arguing strongly for it to be made available for either 5G mobile use or for licence-exempt (Wi-Fi, 5G NR-U) use. Looking at the current situation globally, some countries (e.g. US, Brazil, South Korea, and Saudi Arabia) have already allocated the band for unlicenced use; China has recently announced that it will licence at least part of the band for IMT; and many others are keeping their decisions on hold whilst waiting for the outcome from WRC-23 discussions. In Europe too, a number of different perspectives are being seen across member states, with the future use of the band not yet clear. As we move towards the vital WRC-23 in which key decisions are going to be taken for the future of the band, and against the backdrop of the RSPG an opinion and recommendations on the future of the band that were released at the end of last year, this session will look at the different visions that are taking shape in Europe (at both a regional and Member State level), and at the perspectives that are being seen around the rest of the world. With such varied approaches being seen, it will explore the extent to which a consensus on its use is likely to be reached (licenced, unlicenced or a solution that involves some element of sharing between the two), and at what is the best use of the key spectrum in the band for the long-term future of consumers and societies everywhere.
Lee has been at the forefront of spectrum developments across the world for more than 20 years, helping operators to bid in auctions and regulators to formulate spectrum policy.
Lee has over 20 years’ experience of advising operators, regulators and government bodies across a broad range of topics, including network sharing, fibre networks and transaction support. Notably, Lee has extensive expertise in spectrum issues and has led numerous projects to help operators to develop spectrum strategies and to value spectrum. He has supported operators to prepare for and bid in more than 25 spectrum auctions worldwide. He has also led several high-profile spectrum-related studies for leading regulators such as the European Commission, Ofcom (UK) and the IDA (Singapore).
In 2015/16 Lee was seconded to Telstra’s network strategy team, where he led a range of spectrum and network strategy projects.
Lee holds B.A. and M.Eng. degrees in Manufacturing Engineering, both from the University of Cambridge, UK.
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.
Detlef Fuehrer is the Senior Manager, Spectrum Management and Regulatory Affairs, EMEA in the CTO Office at Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company. His main responsibility is to set and drive HPE’s legislative & regulatory priorities for radio spectrum in EMEA and to execute all aspects of HPE’s EMEA strategy.
Prior to Aruba, Detlef managed the Spectrum Engineering activities of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre where he established the Radio Spectrum Lab. Holding a diploma in Electronics Engineering from Dortmund University, he worked in the semiconductor industry for almost 20 years, predominantly in the communications domain, at Alcatel, Texas Instruments, and Hitachi Electronic Components. Detlef authored the first German-language expert book on ADSL and published numerous studies on spectrum sharing and wireless coexistence.
Stephen is a member of Vodafone’s Group Policy & Public Affairs team and has global responsibility for telecom network policy. This involves working with regional and national policymakers and regulators to create an environment that supports investment, innovation, and sustainable competition across fixed and mobile networks. He manages the company’s spectrum licensing activities across Europe and Africa, including all licence valuation, acquisition, and renewal activities.
Stephen studied Engineering at Cambridge and worked previously in the Japanese technology sector and internationally as a strategy consultant in the telecom and media sector.
In Europe, the 5.9GHz band has been primarily allocated for use by Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), such as connected and autonomous vehicles, and to support the deployment of safe and efficient rail systems. There are 2 competing standards for road ITS – G5-ITS and Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X) technology, and with industry split in their support for these, no consensus has been reached on how to use the band in an interoperable way and therefore only very limited rollout has been seen. A similar situation in the US and Canada has seen moves towards reallocating the spectrum for unlicenced / WiFi use, given its position immediately below the 6Ghz band. This session will look at the current situation in the band and the work that is being done to find a consensus on the ITS standard in the band. Against this backdrop, it will explore the long-term future of the band, and at the best way forward to balance the competing demands for this valuable spectrum.
Throughout his 30+ years in the telecoms industry, Graham has been at the forefront of regulatory thinking on a wide range of issues from network cost modelling to spectrum management; he continues to provide expert advice on a range of topics to operators and regulators around the world.
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. Prior to joining Aetha in 2014, Graham was the Director of Spectrum Policy at Ofcom, responsible for mobile spectrum and auctions, as well as being a member of the Ofcom Senior Management Team. His early career was as a consultant with Analysys Consulting, ultimately as head of their regulatory practice worldwide.
Graham holds an M.A. and post-graduate qualifications in Mathematics from the University of Cambridge.
Franz Ziegelwanger is responsible for the national and international frequency management in Austria. Since 2010, he is head of the technical department within the directorate general telecommunications, post and mining within the Federal Ministry of Finance. The ranges of activities cover beside national activities under the telecommunications act (TKG) all general technical regulatory and operational questions for radio applications including standardisation within ETSI, which is essential for the operation of radio products and services. He also participates in ITU (International Telecommunications Union), in CEPT/ECC (Electronic Communications Committee) and in the high level Group for Radio Spectrum Policy in the European Commission (Radio Spectrum Policy Group – RSPG).
Andrea Mora is currently working as a Radio Spectrum Regulation Expert in the Agence Nationale des Fréquences (ANFR), the French public agency in charge of spectrum management. Andrea is actively participating, as French delegate, on the SRD-MG (Short-Range Devices Maintenance Group) and FM (Frequency Management) Groupe at CEPT/ECC level, dealing with spectrum for ITS, WAS/RLAN and UAS. She advises ANFR on the application of Radio spectrum Directive and participates on the EG-RE as French delegate at European Commission level. Andrea represents the French Ministry of Economics and Finances at ETSI level for the application of radio spectrum regulation framework in standardization equipment for WAS/RLAN.
Before joining ANFR, Andrea worked for Cullen International as analyst for the Colombian telecommunication and media sector. Prior to that, she worked as consultant lawyer for SMEs advising them in innovation related topics as intellectual property, personal data protection and contracts. She began his professional career as a radio spectrum engineer performing technical studies for the deployment of FM radio stations for different municipalities in Colombia.
Andrea is Telecom Engineer from University Santo Tomas (Colombia) and qualified lawyer (Colombian bar) from Pedagogical and Technological University of Colombia (UPTC) with Master in public law from the University of Poitiers (France) and Master in Space activities and Telecommunications Law from University of Paris Sud (France).
Dr. Flament represents 5GAA, the global cross-industry association for the development of connected and automated cars, where he has worked as Chief Technology Officer since April 2018. Maxime was working previously as Head of Department for Connected & Automated Driving (CAD) at ERTICO – ITS Europe, the European association promoting research and deployment on Intelligent Transportation Systems. For 15 years, he has been a leading contributor to many European activities on road safety, connected vehicles, automated driving, large-scale pilots, and digital mapping. Maxime holds a Ph.D. E.E. (2002) and M.Sc. E.E. (1997) from Chalmers Technical University, Sweden. He also holds an “Ingénieur Civil” degree from the Free university of Brussels (1997). In 2001, he was a visiting researcher at Stanford University, CA, USA.
Doctor El Khamis KADIRI, graduated in mechanical & energy from the Lorraine Polytechnic University (France), and microelectronic engineering from the Bordeaux University. He started his career as a Research Engineer in the Scientific Research National Center « CNRS ».
In 1998, he joined PSA Peugeot Citroën as Packaging and Assembly Expert. He covered various positions as a project leader in the new EE system conception and as a Technological Strategy Manager. Currently, he is responsible for the Connected Vehicle and EE Systems in PSA Groupe, in the innovation department.
This conference takes place in between the final 2 CEPT preparatory meetings for WRC-23, and as we enter this last period of preparation, most regional positions are now starting to become clear. This session will provide the opportunity to look at the areas in which European positions have now been fixed, and at those that are still under consideration. Focussing on key agenda items such as AI 1.2, 1.5 and 10, it will hear from both policymakers and industry stakeholders on the extent to which they support the common positions that are emerging on different agenda items, and on the work that they feel still needs to be done.
Laura is the in-house journalist at PolicyTracker, who focuses on spectrum policies in Europe. She joined the PolicyTracker editorial team in February 2022. Ever since, she has been reporting extensively about the latest CEPT decisions, covering 5G auctions in Europe and following the debates on the lower UHF and 6GHz bands.
She previously worked as a communications assistant at the European Parliament’s DG PRES in Brussels. As a freelance journalist, she contributed to several investigative features published by The Guardian, Deutsche Welle and worked on the international newsdesk of the Daily Mail.
Dr. Alexandre Kholod is Head of International Frequency Planning at the Swiss Federal Office of Communications OFCOM. In this role, he leads Swiss preparations for World Radiocommunication Conferences and is also responsible for international satellite coordination. Alexandre has assumed various chairing and drafting tasks in both CEPT and ITU.
He serves currently as Chairman of CEPT Conference Preparatory Group for WRC-23. Alexandre holds a PhD degree in mathematics and physics from the Belarussian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics and a Dr. Habilitation degree from the Aix-Marseille University.
Glyn Carter’s expertise spans a range of areas, including technology strategy, spectrum and other regulatory issues, standards, and the specification and procurement of voice and data terminals and services. Glyn’s knowledge of mobile telecoms technologies includes LTE, UMTS/HSPA, CDMA/EV-DO, GSM/GPRS and TETRA.
Glyn currently works in the Future Spectrum team at GSMA, preparing for the next ITU World Radio Communication Conference (WRC). In particular, Glyn is developing technical studies into compatibility and sharing between mobile and other services in spectrum bands. Before joining the GSMA in February 2012, Glyn spent over 10 years working for mobile operators in countries including Portugal, Romania and the UK.
As a consultant, Glyn has participated in numerous projects for regulators, operators and users of telecommunications, including replanning the radio spectrum in South Africa and other spectrum management projects for regulators in the UK, Japan, Sweden and Jordan. Glyn also undertook spectrum compatibility studies in CEPT and was editor of ECC Report 42 on spectrum efficiency. Before this, Glyn designed communication terminal products for Racal Electronics. Glyn has a bachelor of science degree in mathematics and a PhD in cryptography from London University.
Silke Lalvani has been working for Pearle* – Live Performance Europe, the European employers federation of live performance organisations, since 2010. Silke’s responsibilities include advocacy work at EU and international level (such as on ticketing, stage lighting, the European Green Deal, Digital Agenda etc.) with the aim to secure a sustainable development of live performance organisations. Before joining Pearle*,Silke worked at the Brussels office of the European Broadcasting Union. Until September 2008 she was engaged as a journalist at Radio France Internationale in Paris. She holds a Masters degree in Comparative Literature and a Masters degree in European Affairs.
Mr. Van Niftrik is Vice President, Spectrum Management & Development, EMEA. In this role, he is responsible for spectrum management and ITU related activities, with a focus on orbital assignment and spectrum utilization issues and proceedings for the EMEA region. He currently also acts as Chairman of ESOA’s ITU Working Group.
Mr. Van Niftrik has also worked in a number of other roles, such as Sales- and Capacity Management engineering. He joined SES in The Hague, The Netherlands, in August 2000 after having worked for three years in Madrid, Spain, on the precursor of the European satellite navigation system GALILEO.
He holds a Masters degree in Aerospace Engineering from the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands and is currently working from the SES Office in The Hague.
Martha Suarez was born in Bucaramanga, Colombia. She received her degree as Electronics Engineer from the Universidad Industrial de Santander in 2004. During her undergraduate studies she participated in an exchange program with the Ecole Superieure Chimie Physique Electronique de Lyon, France in 2001. She received her master degree in high frequency communication systems from the University of Marne-la-Vallee, France in 2006 and her Ph.D. degree from the University Paris-Est in 2009. She joined the department of Telecommunications and Signal Processing at the École Supérieure d’Ingénieurs en Électronique et Électrotechnique de Paris ESIEE and the Esycom Research Center where she worked on wireless transmitter architectures. In 2011 she was awarded with a Marie Curie Fellowship and worked at the Instytut Technologii Elektronowej ITE in Poland for the Partnership for Cognitive Radio Par4CR European Project. Her research interests were in the areas of wireless system architectures and the design of high performance Radio Frequency RF transceivers.
Since 2013 she joined the National Spectrum Agency in Colombia, ANE, where she worked as Senior Adviser to the General Director and supported international activities of the Agency. Afterwards, in December 2015, she became the General Director of ANE and continued promoting the efficient use of the Spectrum and the mobile broadband connectivity in Colombia.
Since the 1st of May 2019, Martha Suarez is the President of the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance DSA, a global organization advocating for laws and regulations that will lead to more efficient and effective spectrum utilization, which is essential to addressing key worldwide social and economic challenges.
Elena Puigrefagut, Senior Project Manager at the European Broadcasting Union, coordinates 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).
There has been growing momentum in Europe to use the 3.8-4.2GHz band for local private networks. A number of member states have already made spectrum in the band available on a local basis, and at a European level, CEPT is working on technical conditions to harmonise the band for local use, with the decision taken to use parameters seen in the UK and Norwegian approaches as a starting point for this. The band is also used by a number of incumbent users however, including fixed link and satellite services; and in addition to this, adjacent spectrum is used for broadband services below 3.8GHz, and by key services such as radio altimeters above 4.2GHz. This session will look at the work that is being done to explore the compatibility of local private networks with all these other key services, and the technical conditions that would need to be in place to ensure protection against interference. It will explore what a decision of this kind and the introduction of strict power level limits would mean for the long-term future of the band, and the extent to which it helps to meet the objective of obtaining the best socio-economic value from these key frequencies.
Jonathan supports telecoms operators and regulators in areas including 5G network strategy, spectrum valuation and cost modelling. In particular, he has managed the development of complex quantitative models used to help operators develop their approach to 5G and to prepare for 5G spectrum auctions.
Jonathan’s core expertise is in supporting clients to assess their spectrum strategy, often ahead of major spectrum awards. This includes regulatory support, spectrum valuation, network strategy and bid strategy work. He has also supported clients to develop their business plans, and to prepare network costing models ahead of regulatory processes.
Prior to joining Aetha, Jonathan studied Physical Sciences at the University of Cambridge.
After a state exam in law at the University of Osnabrück, Mr Kühn has been working since 1998 in the area of legal internship (e.g. at Regional Court) of the Federal Network Agency Germany; changing to National and International Spectrum Regulation on different levels in 2005. Nowadays, he is the Deputy Head of Section for International Affairs and Utilisation Concepts. His responsibilities cover strategic frequency utilisation concepts and the transposition of those to the international level of CEPT, EU and ITU. Doing this and having been active in the preparation of three WRC’s, on national and on CEPT CPG level, Mr Kühn participated in a number of international Groups, also as Head of the German Delegation. He has also chaired several groups and subgroups in the ITU and CEPT. Since 2005, he has been responsible for the German preparation of the WRC’s and served as CEPT CPG Vice Chairman from 2010 to 2013. Mr Kühn was appointed Chairman of CPG in June 2013.
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.
Javier Domínguez Lacasa is a Head of Spectrum Policy 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 15 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, and he has also been engaged on a wide range of other telecom policy issues. Prior to joining Telefónica he worked for Ericsson for 5 years.
Dr. Andreas Mueller is the Head of Communication and Network Technology in the Corporate Research Department of Robert Bosch GmbH in Stuttgart, Germany and at the same time the Bosch Chief Expert for Communication Technologies for the IoT. In addition to that, he is coordinating the Industrial 5G activities of Bosch across the different business units. He also serves as General Chair of the “5G Alliance for Connected Industries and Automation” (5G-ACIA), which is the globally leading organization for driving and shaping Industrial 5G.
Prior to joining Bosch, Andreas was a Research Staff Member at the Institute of Telecommunications of the University of Stuttgart, Germany, where he was contributing to the further development of the 3GPP Long Term Evolution towards LTE-Advanced. Besides, he was working as a Systems Engineer for Rohde & Schwarz, developing a novel software-defined radio based communication system for the German Armed Forces. Andreas holds a German Diploma degree as well as a Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering (with distinction) and a M.Sc. degree in Information Technology, all from the University of Stuttgart, Germany.