UK SPF - Steering Board

Luigi Ardito is currently working as a Senior Director of Government Affairs EMEA at Qualcomm. He is leading Qualcomm spectrum and regulatory policy agenda in Europe dealing with various government entities and industry organizations. He is also the Chairman of Digital Europe Spectrum Group and member of the GSA Spectrum management team. Prior to joining Qualcomm, Luigi worked at Sony Corporation both in Japan and in the UK for over a decade. He has additionally gained a 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 from the Politecnico di Torino in Italy, an MBA of Marketing and Finance from the Henley Management College in the UK and a Diploma in Communications and Media Regulations at the European University Institute – Robert Schuman Centre.

Matthew Baker is a Nokia Bell Labs Fellow and leads a RAN standardization team at Nokia. Prior to addressing 6G, he has contributed to the standardization of 3G, 4G, 5G and 5G-Advanced in 3GPP, where he held the posts of Chairman and Vice-Chairman of 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 between 2009 and 2017. He holds degrees in Engineering and Electrical and Information Sciences from the University of Cambridge, UK. He is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, and has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Reading, UK. He is co-editor of the book “LTE – The UMTS Long Term Evolution: From Theory to Practice”, has authored many papers and holds several hundred patents in the field of mobile communications.

Alex Buchan is CTO at the Digital TV Group (DTG), independent RTO and industry collaboration centre for broadcast and digital media. He is the project lead of the 5G ONE4HDD project, a consortium led by DTG which is part of the DSIT Open Network Ecosystems programme, having also led 5G VISTA project as part of UK 5G Trials and Test Beds. He leads technical direction and strategy for DTG with regards to future delivery of TV services as well running several DTG working groups and its spectrum policy work . He is also a Director at SafeShark, a DTG Testing joint venture providing consumer IoT cyber security testing and certification.

Chris works in BT’s Networks division where he leads on spectrum policy and related regulatory issues for BT/EE. He has in-depth experience of wireless communications and the associated national and international spectrum issues. He has participated in international work on spectrum harmonisation in ITU, CEPT and other industry groups and leads with Ofcom and Government on a wide range of spectrum and regulatory issues for BT, including participation in Ofcom’s past spectrum auctions and regulatory consultations related to wireless and spectrum. Chris joined BT as a graduate in 1985. He is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the UK Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET).

Detlef Fuehrer is Distinguished Technologist and Director, Spectrum Management and Regulatory Affairs, EMEA in the CTO Office at Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) Networking. 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’s position as trusted source of radiocompatibility studies. Holding a diploma in Electronics Engineering from Dortmund University, he worked in the semiconductor industry for almost 20 years, predominantly in the communications and broadband domains. Detlef authored the first German-language expert book on ADSL and published numerous studies on spectrum sharing and wireless coexistence.

Shamil is a senior telecoms regulatory specialist with experience across multiple facets of the telecoms industry, gained at BT, Virgin Media and PwC. At BT, Shamil leads BT’s engagement with Ofcom on overall mobile policy, exchange closure, the future of TV distribution and net neutrality. As part of this, he leads BT’s wider mobile policy work, including regular engagement with Ofcom as part of its Mobile Strategy Review and its current Mobile Connectivity programme. Prior to this, at Virgin Media, he considered the impact of regulation and government policy on Virgin Media, including regulatory decisions on gaining provider-led switching, bill capping and Roam Like At Home. And at PwC, he advised various EMEA operators and policymakers on regulatory and policy issues, on matters ranging from market reviews to spectrum awards.

Tony Lavender is a Partner of Plum Consulting. He has extensive experience across a wide range of telecommunication and technology industry issues gained through working as a consultant, for the UK telecommunications regulator Oftel and for a network operator over a period of more than 30 years. Tony is particularly interested in public policy, regulation and the relationship between technology, and the economy. In recent years Tony has focused on radio spectrum issues and much of his client work at Plum has focused on the benefits of innovation in the radio spectrum field. Website: www.plumconsulting.co.uk

Theo is currently a Senior Specialist in the Spectrum Standardisation team at Nokia, leading Nokia’s involvement in various regional and global spectrum regulatory discussions. Prior to that he was a Frequency Coordination Engineer at Inmarsat and he has also been a Spectrum Technology Analyst at Ofcom, the UK’s telecom regulator. Theo has also authored and co-authored various conference publications around 5G. Theo holds an Electrical and Computer Engineering degree from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, an MSc in Mobile and Satellite Communications from the University of Surrey, UK and an MSc in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology, USA.

Bob has led a number of DCMS 5G Testbed and Trials projects was part of the founding partners team working with Scottish Government to create the Scotland 5G Centre. In recent years he has been working on solutions for the media and broadcast industry and private 5G SA networks working alongside a number of international broadcasters. Over a 30 year Bob has published 4 books and more than 200 papers. Bob is also a director of the University startup company Neutral Wireless Ltd

James has worked in spectrum policy for government for 11 years and for MOD for 6 years, a career civil servant.