IIC/BEREC Telecommunications & Media Forum 2021

Alejandra de Iturriaga Gandini is currently Director of Telecommunications and Audiovisual Sector at the Spanish National Authority for Markets and Competition (CNMC). At the present she is Vice Chair in the Body in the European Regulations for Electronic Communications (BEREC) and Member of the Board in the European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Services (ERGA).

Ms de Iturriaga is responsible for managing, supervising and coordinating the CNMC activity on electronic communications and audiovisual services.

Her functions in the electronic communications sector involve the analysis of electronic communications markets, reference offers, conflict resolution between operators and sanctioning procedures, and consultancy activity.

In the audiovisual sector, she is responsible for the enforcement of the obligations imposed on the different actors related to advertising, protection of minors, and financing of European works, amongst others.

Annemarie Sipkes has been director for Telecoms, Postal and Transport at the ACM, the Dutch authority for markets and consumers, since 2018. This year, she is the BEREC Vice Chair. Before working as a telecoms regulator, she held different posts in the Dutch government, working from an economic perspective on strategic issues in the field of Education, Culture & Science and in Social Affairs & labour market policies. After completing her MSC in economics and an MA in General Arts in Maastricht, she started her career at the Dutch Central bank and also spent several years in consulting at KPMG.

Benoît Loutrel is an economist engineer, specializing in industrial economics, economic development, digital transformation and regulatory economics.

After working at the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (Insee) as a research officer in environmental economics in 1993, Mr Loutrel was appointed in 1996 technical advisor to the administrator representing the France at the World Bank in Washington and then, in 1999, chargé d’affaires and head of the European office (in Paris) of the infrastructure department of the International Finance Corporation, a subsidiary of the World Bank Group until 2003.

In 2004, he joined the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Communications and Posts. (Arcep) where he was Director of Fixed and Mobile Market Regulation, then Deputy Director General. From 2010 to 2013, he was Director of the “Development of the Digital Economy” program of the “Investments for the future” to the Commissioner General for Investment. From 2013 to 2016, Mr Loutrel was Director General of Arcep. In 2017, Mr Loutrel became Director of Institutional Relations and Public Policy at Google France. From 2018 to 2020, he carried out various missions within the INSEE General Inspectorate, and in particular, he was General Rapporteur of the interministerial mission “regulation of social networks”.

Mr Loutrel joined the Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel in February 2021. He chairs Arcom’s “Supervision of Online Platforms” working group. He is also Vice-President of the working group “Televisions, SMAD, distribution and digital uses”.

Mr Loutrel studied industrial economics and regulation at Ecole Polytechnique, ENSAE, and Toulouse School of Economics.

Boutheina Guermazi is the Director of Digital Development (DD) Department of the Infrastructure Practice Group of the World Bank. She heads a global team working on building digital economies in developing countries, to drive shared prosperity and reduced poverty. The team advises policymakers and regulators, works in collaboration with leading firms and partners, and designs investment and technical assistance programs to improve broadband connectivity and use of digital technology to address development challenges of client countries. The work covers a wide area of focus including broadband networks, mobile networks, cloud infrastructure, internet of things, and big data analytics. The team works collaboratively across sectors to ensure the availability and use of digital government platforms, identification for development and other key foundations to harness digital development, while strengthening cybersecurity, privacy, and data protection. Ms Guermazi also leads the Digital Development Partnership (DDP), a Multi-Donor Trust Fund focusing on Digital development globally.

Prior to her role as Director, Ms Guermazi was Practice Manager of Digital Development covering Africa and the Middle East regions of the World Bank. She also served as Lead Operations Officer in the Regional Integration Unit of the Africa region of the World Bank. During her tenure, she has written and published articles and book chapters on trade law, telecommunications policy, and regulatory reform.

Before joining the World Bank, Ms Guermazi was Assistant Professor at the University of Law and Political and Social Sciences of Tunis, and a Telecommunications consultant to the Sector Reform Unit at the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

Ms Guermazi holds a PhD in Telecommunications Law and Policy from the Faculty of Law at McGill University, Canada; an LLM in International Law from Indiana University, USA; and a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Law from the University of Tunis, Tunisia. She held a Fulbright Scholarship and was a research scholar at the University of Michigan (USA), the Social Science Research Council (USA), and the Center of Studies for Regulated Industries (Canada).

Carlos Rodríguez Cocina was appointed Director for European Regulatory Affairs and Head of Telefónica’s Brussels Office in 2016. In this capacity he coordinates Telefonica’s regulatory position with its business units in Spain, Germany and the UK , and manages the interaction with the EU institutions and other relevant stakeholders in Brussels. He currently represents Telefónica on the Executive Board of ETNO, the Board of Management of the European Internet Forum and the Board of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Belgium and Luxembourg.

Mr Rodríguez was previously the Manager of Regulatory Affairs of Telefónica Internacional USA, acting as the first permanent representative to the company’s group in Washington DC.

He holds a degree in law from the University of Oviedo, Spain, and a specialisation in international trade from the Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade (ICEX).

Chris Chapman was appointed President of the International Institute of Communications on 1 April 2016. He is also Chair of the IIC Nominations Committee.

Mr Chapman previously held the position of Chairman and CEO of the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). He was appointed in February 2006 and was re-appointed for a 2nd five year term in October 2010 until April 2016. He was appointed an Associate Member of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in September 2007.

Mr Chapman is a seasoned executive with experience in the media, broadcasting and film, internet, telecommunications, sports rights and infrastructure development worlds.

Before joining ACMA, Mr Chapman held a number of senior management positions with the Seven Network, Stadium Australia Management, Optus and Babcock & Brown. He has also been the Chairman of Film Australia and Sports Vision Australia, and a previous member of the National Film and Sound Archives’ Advisory Council.

Mr Chapman has a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of New South Wales and has completed the Harvard Business School AMP program.

Bio coming soon …..

Clive Carter leads BT Group’s regulatory, economic and competition law functions. His team creates and socialises BT’s regulatory strategy, leads for BT Group on major regulatory initiatives such as fixed and mobile regulation, consumer policy protections, and network regulation. The team also covers linkages between traditional comms regulation and emerging regulatory and policy issues, including digital regulation.

Before joining BT, M Carter led Ofcom’s Strategy and Policy team, ran Ofcom’s Digital Communications Review, and was responsible for negotiating with BT on the Commitments’.

Dan Sjöblom is the Director General of the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (PTS) and was appointed by the Swedish Government on 1 February 2017.

He served as Chairperson of BEREC (Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communication) in 2020, having served as a vice-chair in 2019.

Prior to taking up his position, Mr Sjöblom was the Director General for the Swedish Competition Authority for eight years, between 2009 and 2017.

He is also board member of the Swedish Broadband Council.

Mr Sjöblom has served as a civil servant at the European Commission between 1996 and 2009. He holds a Master of Laws from Stockholm University.

David Wheeldon is Group Director of Policy and Public Affairs at Sky, advising the CEO and Group Executive Committee on strategic public policy, regulatory advocacy, government relations and industry engagement across Sky’s major European markets where his team cover a wide range of media, telecoms, consumer and digital issues. Previously Mr Wheeldon looked after Sky’s sustainability strategy and for its initiatives to inspire customers and staff in sports, arts, environment and schools. He has also served as deputy president of the Association of Commercial Television Europe and he is currently a board director of Internet Matters, a not-for-profit company that helps keep children safe in the digital world. Prior to Sky Mr Wheeldon held a similar role at the London Stock Exchange Group where he was responsible for the Group’s UK, EU and global public policy covering listed companies, equities trading and the capital markets. In the early 2000’s, he was a partner in a leading London based communications firm where he provided political advice to major international businesses. He began his career as a university administrator before becoming a political speech writer and strategist.

Declan McLoughlin is a member of the leadership team of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI). His role has a focus on sustainability, policy development and risk management.

He is responsible for implementing the BAI’s strategic objectives as they relate to sustainability and is its Chief Risk Officer.

He is also centrally involved in developing the BAI’s regulatory approaches to linear, non-linear and online media, including preparation for the transposition of the AVMS Directive, guidelines governing elections & referendums as well as rules applying to political advertising.

Mr McLoughlin is a member of the Contract Awards Committee, the statutory committee responsible for the licensing of radio and television services in Ireland, and is a former chairperson of the national community radio association.
He has worked as a manager in the field of media for nearly 25 years and is with the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland since 2009.

Emmanuel Gabla was nominated as Membre du Collège at the board of Arcep at the beginning of 2019. He was previously the Head of the Economic Section of France’s embassy in Norway from 2016 until his appointment at Arcep.

Mr Gabla began his career in 1993 at the Ministry of Post & Telecom, which developed the 1996 Act that opened the telecoms sector up to competition. Starting in 1999, Mr Gabla served as an advisor on telecoms, the information society, postal affairs and industrial aspects of the internal market to the Permanent Representation of France to the European Union, as Technical Advisor to the Prime Minister, Jean Pierre Raffarin, in charge of telecoms and postal affairs, industrial property and space, and the head of the Technologies and Information Society department at the Directorate-General for Enterprise.

From 2009 to 2015, Mr Gabla was a member of the Board of the French broadcasting authority, CSA, and a member of the General Council for the Economy, Industry, Energy and Technologies from 2015 to 2016.

Mr Gabla is a former student at the Ecole Polytechnique, a graduate of the Ecole nationale supérieure des télécommunications (ENST), and a Chief Telecommunications Engineer.

Fiona Taylor leads Verizon’s International Public Policy function with a team located across three continents. She is in charge of defining the company’s public policy strategy across Verizon’s international footprint, advising cross functional teams on policy issues affecting the business and the company’s global strategy.

Verizon and its subsidiaries are among the world’s leading providers of communications, entertainment, information technology and security solutions, with annual revenues in 2019 of $130 billion. Outside of the US, Verizon also serves large business and government customers, including 99% of the Fortune 1000, covering over 150 countries worldwide.

Ms Taylor has also headed Verizon’s EU representation in Brussels since October 2010. She represents the company before international policy-makers including EU institutions and in different organisations such as the European Internet Forum (EIF), ETNO, etc., and has served as Vice-chair of the Digital Economy Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce to the EU (AMCHAM EU).

Prior to joining Verizon, Ms Taylor worked with the European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association (ETNO), where she led the public policy function. Her responsibilities included the overall strategic positioning and advocacy of the association focusing on the impact of Internet-related policy and regulation on the member companies.

Florian Damas, Head of Policy and Regulatory Affairs, Nokia Bell N.V. is responsible for the development of corporate positions on key regulatory and thought-leadership issues for Nokia.

Mr Damas advises regulators and competition authorities to ensure infrastructure interoperability and competition. He engages with governments in supporting national broadband plans and reaping the maximum economic and societal benefit from ICT.

Mr Damas is an active member of several trade associations and non-for-profit organisations.

Before joining Nokia, Mr Damas worked for several telecommunications providers including MCI Worldcom (now Verizon) and COLT Telecom, and the equipment vendor Alcatel-Lucent.

He is personally involved during his free time in helping a non-profit organisations to provide online courses using open source software over fiber access.

Frank Krüger is head of the Directorate for Data Policy and Digital Innovations at the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport.  After training as a bank officer, he studied economics and began working as press desk officer at the Federal Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications in 1994. In 1998, Mr Krüger joined the Federal Ministry of Economics in the same position. He has been working in the field of telecommunications since 1999 and, since 2008, his focus has been on broadband policy. From 2005 to 2008, Mr Krüger represented Germany in Brussels in the fields of telecommunications and audiovisual media. In 2011, he was appointed head of the Division for Broadband Policy. In early 2014, he moved on to the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure and was appointed as head of the Directorate for Digital Society and Infrastructure. He has held his current position since 2021.

Helen Nissenbaum is a Professor at Cornell Tech and in the Information Science Department at Cornell University. She is also Director of the Digital Life Initiative, which was launched in 2017 at Cornell Tech to explore societal perspectives surrounding the development and application of digital technology, focusing on ethics, policy, politics, and quality of life. Her own research takes an ethical perspective on policy, law, science, and engineering relating to information technology, computing, digital media and data science. Topics have included privacy, trust, accountability, security, and values in technology design. Her books include Obfuscation: A User’s Guide for Privacy and Protest, with Finn Brunton (MIT Press, 2015) and Privacy in Context: Technology, Policy, and the Integrity of Social Life (Stanford, 2010).

Grants from the NSF, AFOSR, and the U.S. DHHS-ONC have supported her work. Recipient of the 2014 Barwise Prize of the American Philosophical Association, Nissenbaum has contributed to privacy-enhancing software, including TrackMeNot and AdNauseam.

Dr Nissenbaum holds a PhD in philosophy from Stanford University and a BA (Hons) in philosophy and mathematics from the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.

Jack Hamande joined the Institute in September 2013 as Chairman of the Council until January 2017, when he was nominated as a Member of the Council.

Mr Hamande acquired a great deal of experience in management, previously working for the Walt Disney Group, AT&T, Verizon Business, Cisco and Proximus. His managerial responsibilities increased and broadened over the years, especially as regards strategy, regulation, engineering and business development. In 2009 he changed the course of his career by joining the Belgian federal public sector as Director General for Organisation and Personnel Development at the FPS Personnel & Organisation. There he initiated several programmes applying to the whole of the federal public service in areas such as efficiency, customer orientation, leadership development, performance management, culture, diversity and well-being at work.

Mr Hamande holds a Masters degree in Psychological and Pedagogical Sciences (ULB) and a degree in management.

James Waterworth has been Director of EU Public Policy at Amazon since 2017 and is responsible for the company’s engagement with EU policymakers and legislation. Prior to Amazon he worked for the Computer and Communications Industry Association, Nokia, Telefonica and Cable & Wireless.

Jeremy Godfrey has over 30 years of regulatory, government and business experience in the communications, technology and online sectors, in Ireland and Hong Kong.

Mr Godfrey was previously Chairperson of the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC). He served eight years as a Commissioner and Chairperson of the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg). During that time, he also served as Chair and vice-Chair of BEREC, the coordinating body for EU telecoms regulators. In Hong Kong, he served as Government Chief Information Officer, as a management consultant and as a senior executive in the telecommunications sector.

Mr Godfrey has been involved in regulatory developments such as the EU’s Digital Services Act, the Digital Markets Act, and the Open Internet Regulation. As Hong Kong Government CIO, he had responsibility for the e-government programme and cloud computing strategy, as well as for Internet governance, digital inclusion and promoting online safety. As a consultant, he advised clients about online business strategies and on regulatory issues in the communications, energy, transportation and financial services sectors. While in the telecommunications industry he was involved in the launch of the world’s first commercial online video-on-demand service as well as in many regulatory issues.

Mr Godfrey started his career as a civil servant in the UK government. He holds an MA from Cambridge University, where he studied mathematics

Jessica Rosenworcel, Acting Chairwoman at Federal Communications Commission, believes that the future belongs to the connected. She works to promote greater opportunity, accessibility, and affordability in our communications services in order to ensure that all Americans get a fair shot at 21st century success. She believes strong communications markets can foster economic growth and security, enhance digital age opportunity, and enrich our civic life.

From fighting to protect net neutrality to ensuring access to the internet for students caught in the Homework Gap, Ms Rosenworcel has been a consistent champion for connecting all. She is a leader in spectrum policy, developing new ways to support wireless services from Wi-Fi to video and the internet of things. She also is responsible for developing policies to help expand the reach of broadband to schools, libraries, hospitals, and households across the country.

Named as one of POLITICO’s 50 Politicos to Watch and profiled by InStyle Magazine in a series celebrating “women who show up, speak up and get things done,” Ms Rosenworcel brings over two decades of communications policy experience and public service to the FCC. Prior to joining the agency, she served as Senior Communications Counsel for the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, under the leadership of Senator John D. Rockefeller IV and Senator Daniel Inouye. Before entering public service, Ms Rosenworcel practiced communications law in Washington, DC.

Ms Rosenworcel is a graduate of Wesleyan University and New York University School of Law.

Jimmy Ahlstrand is Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Telenor Sweden. He joined Telenor in 2019 and now leads Telenor Sweden’s work within legal, public and regulatory affairs, privacy, sustainability, compliance and communication.

Mr Ahlstrand is also Chairman of the Board for N4M, Sweden’s second largest mobile network and a board member of the Swedish Government’s Broadband Council since its foundation in 2010.

Prior to taking up his position, Mr Ahlstrand was CSO for the Swedish broadcaster, SVT, between 2009 and 2019. He holds a Master of Political Science from Uppsala University.

Johan Keetelaar joined Oxera in 2022, and is a member of its senior digital leadership team. He has spent most of his career working in the digital, telecoms and transport sectors, including more than 15 years as a strategic leader in competition and sector-specific regulation. More recently, he worked as a digital practitioner at Meta Inc.

Mr Keetelaar spent more than 15 years at the Authority for Consumers & Markets (the Dutch competition and regulatory authority), as well as one of its predecessors (OPTA) where he was Director Markets, Director of Transport, Telecoms and Post, and Director Competition. He was also a member of BEREC, the group of EU telecom and digital regulators.

Prior to joining Oxera, Mr Keetelaar was the Director of Economic Policy and Head of Connectivity and Access Policy in the EMEA region at Meta Inc. for four years.

Mr Keetelaar holds an MSc. in Econometrics from the University of Amsterdam.

Lisa Felton leads the public policy strategy and engagement with policy makers in relation to global policy programmes for Vodafone across its global footprint. She has over 20 years’ experience as a lawyer and in policy both within Vodafone and in private practice.

Ms Felton is a Visiting Policy Fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute and Chair of the GSMA Mobile Commerce Operator Expert Group

Ms Felton holds an MA from Oxford University in Law and a Masters in International Law of Human Rights.

Lorelien Hoet is Director of EU Government Affairs at Microsoft. In this role, she deals notably with European telecommunications policy, cloud & cybersecurity regulation. Before joining Microsoft in 2018, she worked as a legal executive at Proximus, holding different positions including Head of Legal Consumer business, and at Orange where she worked as Director of Regulatory Affairs.

Ms Hoet holds an LL.M from KU Leuven and was also active as attorney at the bars of Brussels and Stockholm.

Lynn Robinson became Director General of the International Institute of Communications (IIC), in March 2020.

Lynn is an experienced senior director and trustee / non exec-director, having held key senior leadership positions in the technology, built environment, regulation, accreditation and dental industries. She has extensive experience of professional membership bodies working within the full spectrum including, Regulatory bodies, Industry associations and Chambers of Commerce. Lynn is a well-known and established ambassador in these areas having led on many strategic programmes to aid engagement, growth, retention, change management, stakeholder and political engagement.

An experienced Trustee / Non-Executive Director as Vice Chair at Arnos Vale Cemetery Trust, a unique heritage site in the heart of Bristol (UK), Lynn is also a Trustee / Non-Executive Director at The Bristol and Bath (UK), Parks Foundation.

Reflecting on becoming Director General at the IIC at the outbreak of a pandemic, Lynn said, ‘these last two years have been like no other we have known, with many challenges coming our way. In 2020 we successfully pivoted the organisation through a digital transformation programme to maintain a full schedule of events and by increasing the outputs delivered. Transforming the programme enabled us to continue to deliver the professional service and increase our engagement with IIC members and stakeholder community to remain connected to them through such a difficult time.

As we move through 2022, I am delighted to return to a combined in-person and online programme and to continue to evolve the IIC in to the next phase, with the vision and strategic focus to deliver our objectives and to build on our growth, engagement and retention’.

Manuel Kohnstamm is Senior Vice President and Chief Corporate Affairs Officer for Liberty Global. He is responsible for developing and implementing Liberty Global’s regulatory strategy, public policy, government affairs and corporate communications. Mr Kohnstamm is an executive officer of Liberty Global and sits on Liberty Global’s Executive Leadership Team and the Regulatory Committee.

Mr Kohnstamm joined the Europe operations of Liberty Global’s predecessor in September 1999 and held several positions in corporate affairs, public policy, and communications. He was appointed to his current position in January 2012. From 1992 until he joined Liberty Global, Mr Kohnstamm worked at Time Warner Inc., most recently as Vice President of Public Affairs in Brussels for its subsidiaries Time Inc., Warner Bros., and Turner Broadcasting. Prior to joining Time Warner, Mr Kohnstamm worked with the consulting group European Research Associates in Brussels where he conducted macro-economic and policy studies on the telecommunications and defense industries.

Mr Kohnstamm is a member of VodafoneZiggo’s Supervisory Board as well as a member of the Board of Directors of Liberty Global’s subsidiary Telenet Group Holding NV, a Liberty Global subsidiary and a Belgian public limited liability company.

Mr Kohnstamm is Co-chair of GIGAEurope, an industry association bringing together independent private telecoms companies. In addition, Mr Kohnstamm is a trustee of the non-profit organisation Street Child, a charitable organisation focused on improving the lives of some of the poorest and most vulnerable children in the world.

Mr Kohnstamm graduated in Political Science and holds a Doctorandus Degree in International and European Law from the University of Amsterdam. He also holds a Postgraduate Degree in International relations from the Clingendael Diplomat School in The Hague, and successfully completed the Cable Executive Management Program from Harvard Business School, Boston (MA).

Michel Van Bellinghen, Master of Laws (UCL), started off at the university in 1990 as a researcher, then became an assistant under the supervision of Professor Françoise Tulkens, at the UCL Laws Centre for Criminal Law.

Mr Van Bellinghen became an assistant advisor at the Ministry of Justice in 1992 under the supervision of Professor Marc Bossuyt and joined the BIPT in 1997. From 1999 to 2003 he held the position of expert at the private office of Rik Daems, who was the Federal Telecommunications Minister at the time, and afterwards took up the function of Assistant Head of the Private Office. From 2003 until 2009 he was nominated Member of the BIPT Council for the first time. Following this mandate he remained closely affiliated to the Council and supervised the legal department of the regulator during a number of years. He has written scientific publications.

In 2013 Mr Van Bellinghen held a position on the Council as a Member. In January 2017 he was assigned Chairman of the BIPT Council.

Mr Van Bellinghen served as Chair of BEREC in 2021.

Rita Wezenbeek is Director Connectivity in DG CONNECT. The Connectivity Directorate’s mission is to ensure widespread access to and take-up of gigabit and 5G networks for all citizens and businesses of the European Union, as one of the key targets of the Commission’s Communication “The 2030 Digital Compass: the European way for the Digital Decade”. As such, the Directorate ia. deals with the preparation of a collaborative governance framework for the Digital Decade. It also develops policies in the area of electronic communications, fostering private and public investment in gigabit networks, and ensuring that Member States efficiently manage and use harmonised spectrum. Furthermore, it shares the responsibility for monitoring and reviewing the digital parts of EU Member States’ Recovery and Resilience Plans. More broadly, the Directorate deals with the application and enforcement of the European regulatory framework on electronic communications.

Ms Wezenbeek joined the European Commission in 2002. Before moving to DG CONNECT in December 2020, she was the head of the units dealing with Anti-Trust and Telecommunications (2017-2020) and Retail Financial Services and Payment Systems (2010-2017) in DG Competition.

Before joining the Commission, Ms Wezenbeek worked for sixteen years as a private lawyer, specialized in European and corporate law, in a Dutch/ Belgian law firm. She also was a Member of the Commission on European Integration, an independent advisory body on foreign policy to the Dutch government and Parliament.

Tareq Amin currently serves as Group Executive Vice President, Chief Technology Officer of Rakuten, Inc. and Representative Director, Executive Vice President, Chief Technology Officer of Rakuten Mobile, Inc.

At Rakuten Mobile, Mr Amin is leading the design and rollout of the company’s next-generation fully virtualized cloud native mobile network in Japan. Leveraging technologies across the cloud, virtualization, OpenRAN and end-to-end automation, the Rakuten Mobile network offers greater flexibility, scalability, security and resiliency, and revolutionizes the way mobile services are provided and consumed. Full-scale commercial LTE service began in April 2020, with 5G service launch following in September of the same year. Amin is also heading the development of the Rakuten Communications Platform, a cloud-native telco platform that enables telecommunications companies and enterprises around the world to build secure and open mobile networks at speed and low cost.

Before joining Rakuten Mobile in 2018, Mr Amin served as Senior Vice President of Technology Development and Automation for Reliance Jio. In this role, he was responsible for overseeing all aspects of the Technology Development and Automation organisation, including innovation, development and operations. His organisation led software development, systems engineering, next-generation access networks, technical operations and R&D. Amin drove end-to-end network design and deployment to meet coverage, capacity, and performance needs of India’s largest green field LTE TDD network, supporting industry leading data connectivity and innovative services such as VoLTE/HD Voice and eMBMS.

Prior to this, Mr Amin served as Vice President of Carrier Solutions for Huawei, where he led the company’s strategy for all major technologies and solution innovations, and as Senior Director of National Planning & Performance at T-Mobile, where he managed all budget allocation of capacity, performance and software development related expenditures across USA markets.

Mr Amin holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and Physics from Portland State University in Oregon.

Yih-Choung Teh is Group Director, Strategy and Research at Ofcom. The group leads on setting Ofcom’s overarching strategy, drawing on insights from our research and analysis of the sectors we regulate. He has previously been a Director in Ofcom’s Competition Group, working on issues including Ofcom’s strategy to encourage investment in telecoms infrastructure, and overseeing Ofcom’s broadcasting and media competition programme.

Before joining Ofcom, Mr Teh worked for a strategy consultancy in the telecoms sector, providing policy and strategy advice to public and private sector clients globally. Prior to this he held an academic research post in the University of Oxford.