Syed Ismail Shah (Dr)

Dr Syed Ismail Shah has been the Chairman of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) since 2013. Prior to this, he served at the highest technical management position in the Pakistan’s Ministry of IT & Telecommunications as Member Telecom.

Dr Shah ranks among Asia’s most renowned telecom professionals, having led some of the most high profile undertakings in Pakistan’s telecommunications industry, including the undertaking of the PTA regarding the spectrum auction and subsequent launch of 3G/4G. These achievements were recognized by the GSMA in the shape of the Spectrum for Mobile Broadband Award 2015 given to Pakistan.

Dr Shah played a key role in the election of Pakistan to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Council and was also elected Vice-President of the General Assembly of the Asia Pacific Telecommunity (APT). As the Executive Director of Central Asian Cellular Forum, Dr Shah led technical audits of CDMA2000 networks, UMTS/WCDMA and LTE trainings in various countries and is experienced in handling major national-level administrative and security issues linked to the misuse of SIMs, unauthorized exploitation of telecommunications networks, highly volatile market dynamics, online content, low-cost end-user terminals and impact of digitalization on national security, deployment of optical fiber to guarantee connectivity to rural areas, and licensing.

Dr Shah is a strong proponent of using ICT to create smarter societies and believes in the power of digitization.

Dr Shah has more than 100 journal and conference publications. He is also a Senior Member of IEEE, USA and Member of the Institute of Electronics Information and Communication Engineers, Japan. With this research and teaching background, as well as his experience as a technology consultant at Qualcomm (USA), Dr Shah provides consultations to the industry and other government agencies.

Dr Shah holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh, USA.