IIC Brussels Chapter meeting: A competitive European connectivity market – what’s the future outlook for telecom policy beyond 2024 (in person)

Lea is a Policy Manager for Space and Spectrum at Access Partnership where she focuses on business development, policy & regulatory affairs and helping companies implement strategies for success. Lea was previously founder and head of the APCO Worldwide Space Practice. She specialises in European space policy and has experience in defence, security, cybersecurity, and emerging technologies as related to the space sector. Lea is also the Vice Chair for the Security, Defence and Space Committee at AmCham EU.

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).

Matúš Huba works as an advisor at McDermott Will & Emery. He advises multinational companies on a broad range of privacy and cybersecurity issues across a number of sectors, including tech, life sciences/pharma, e-commerce, and automotive.  His practice focuses on helping clients balance complex legal requirements with their business needs, with a particular focus on AI/machine learning implementation, ICT and IoT compliance, data breach management and regulator engagement, and tailored global data transfer solutions.  Matúš helps clients design data utilization strategies to leverage data in a compliant way, and employ EU/UK direct marketing, online tracking technologies and programmatic/RTB advertising campaigns.  He supported a development of numerous global privacy compliance programs, providing actionable advice on how to harmonize requirements across multiple international jurisdictions.

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.

Peter is Head of Unit in DG CONNECT, where he is overseeing the EU telecoms policy and legal framework. The portfolio includes the European Electronic Communications Code, the Open Internet Regulation, the BEREC Regulation, and the Gigabit Infrastructure Act.

Before taking up the current position in 2023, he has been Head of Unit and Deputy Director for Future Networks, a portfolio that includes future connectivity, cloud and software, Internet policy and governance as well as the Internet of Things.

Between 2021 and 2023 he has been Interim Executive Director setting up and running the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking implementing funding programmes for 6G research and supporting 5G roll-out.

Before his appointment to Head of Unit he was Head of Sector “Spectrum Policy”, was coordinating the 2015 Digital Single Market Strategy, the 2012 Roaming Regulation, and the EU R&D programme leading to the 4G mobile communications standards.

Before joining the European Commission in 2004 he has occupied several engineering and management positions in industry, academia and start-ups. He holds engineering and doctoral degrees from RWTH Aachen University, Germany and is author of the text book “The GSM Evolution” (Wiley 2003).