Day 1
Day 2
Partners
Speakers

Voice, Messaging, IoT

On Demand - Day 1

Analyst Briefing: Hot Telecom – The Big Reset

Isabelle ParadisPresident and Founder @ HOT TELECOM

Isabelle Paradis kicks off MEF Connects Wholesale with an exclusive briefing from Hot Telecom’s 2020 Wholesale Report

  • Industry shifts
  • Impact on wholesale trends (customers, services, ecosystem, strategy)
  • Traffic and revenue forecasts

The Future of the Wholesale Ecosystem

We are in the middle of a shift in products , a shift in models. The industry has already seen lower margins in the last decades and that seems to have stimulated two main strategies: Scale or Niche. How can a shift towards solutions help and what product innovation/ differentiation will succeed? This session takes in views from across the ecosystem.

Speakers:

  • Dario Betti – CEO @ MEF
  • Ignacio García Comín – Director of Digital and Mobile Solutions @ Telefonica Business Solutions
  • Csaba Füzesi – Head of Product Management @ Telekom Global Carrier
  • Dawood Ghalaieny – CEO @ Cellusys
  • Edwin Carvalho – Senior Carrier Services Director @ Vonage

Business SMS – Challenges & Opportunities

Keynote: Top 3 challenges & opportunities for business messaging

Jerome Gasic, Head of Messaging at Bics keynotes to explore the top 3 challenges & opportunities for business messaging

Panel discussion: A2P SMS at a crossroads – MNO’s safety belt or the last bullet?

Speakers:

  • Kedar Gupte – General Manager – Wholesale Mobility @ MTN Global Connect
  • Jerome Gasic – Head of Messaging @ BICS
  • José García – Founder @ Global Telco Consult (GTC)
  • Fabio Bottan – Senior Messaging Specialist Voice and Messaging Trading @ Telia
  • Lucas Walker – Director of Carrier Relations @ Openmarket
  • David Vigar – Partner Development Manager – Messaging Strategy @ Google

European Spotlight

Speakers:

  • Suzy Menneret- Independent Strategy and Business Development Advisor
  • Alfredo Muñoz Montero – Product Manager @ Orange Wholesale Spain
  • Fernando Guardone – Wholesale Sales Manager @ Vodafone Spain
  • Lee Suker – Market Development Director & Data Protection Officer @ Xconnect
  • Shanka Silva – Carrier Relations Director Europe @ Vonage
  • Simona Maga – Mobile Sales Coordinator Europe @ Sparkle

An open discussion giving a regional perspective and updates:

  • Impact of COVID19 on the wholesale markets in the region
  • Transformation trends in the region
  • Challenges & Opportunities
  • Predictions for 2021

Analyst Briefing: Wholesale Roaming

  • Sam Barker – Lead Analyst @ Juniper Research
  • Tim Green – Editor @ Mobile Ecosystem Forum

Juniper Research’s Senior Analyst provides an update to their 2020 Wholesale Roaming report with insights into key future strategies and market drivers, such as 5G networks, RCS messaging and roaming fraud.

Evolution of Voice

Speakers:

  • Patrick George – Product and Business Development @ iBasis
  • Erik van Stokkom – Ambassador @ GCCM
  • Alper Burak – CEO @ Odine Solutions
  • Ilija Reymond – Co-founder and CEO @ MIG

Erik van Stokkkom speaks to three industry leaders about their Voice Strategies, the growth divers and challenges faced to arrive at the path to follow in the evolution of voice.

Combatting SMS Fraud: The Ongoing War

Co-hosted by MEF and i3Forum this sessions explores the latest use cases, best practices and industry initiatives to stay one step ahead of the fraudsters and protect the long term sustainability of the channel.

Speakers:

  • Dario Betti – CEO @ MEF
  • Anurag Aggarwal – Director, Messaging Services @ Tata Communications
  • Aqeel Ahmed – Senior Product Expert for Messaging and Digital Solutions @ Telenor Global Wholesale
  • John Murtagh – CTO @ Anam Technologies
  • Sandrine Dutertre – Messaging Security Products Manager @ Orange
  • Jason Lunn – SVP Commercial @ IMImobile

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On Demand - Day 2

Asia, Africa & Middle East Spotlight

An open discussion giving a regional perspective and updates:

Impact of COVID19 on the wholesale markets in the region
Transformation trends in the region
Challenges & Opportunities
Predictions for 2021

Speakers:

  • Kevin Graham – Chief Development Officer @ SMSHIGHWAY
  • Mohammed Buari – Africa Carrier Director @ Vonage
  • Phillip Linder – Partner Development Manager (ASIA) @ Modica Group
  • Kedar Gupte – General Manager – Wholesale Mobility @ MTN GlobalConnect
  • Tim Green – Editor @ Mobile Ecosystem Forum
  • Miguel Calvo Vervaet – Group Head of Roaming, Voice & Messaging @ Ooredoo Group
  • Moosa Abid Babar – Head of Messaging and Digital Solutions @ Telenor Global Wholesale

A2P Global Market Forecasts

Speakers:

  • Nick Lane – Chief Insights Analyst @ Mobilesquared
  • Tim Green – Editor @ Mobile Ecosystem Forum

In Conversation with Telekom Global Carrier

Olaf Giehl, Senior Project Manager chats to MEF’s IOT Advisor about Critical IoT and Quality of Service

Speakers:

  • Andrew Parkin-White – IoT Advisor @ MEF
  • Olaf Giehl – Senior Project Manager @ Telekom Global Carrier

Evolution of the IoT Connectivity Landscape

This panel session explores market development in IoT connectivity and will investigate a range of topics including:

What are the market drivers for IoT connectivity – which segments, geographies and technologies offer the greatest opportunities?
How are communications service providers addressing these opportunities and what challenges do they face?
How is the competitive environment developing and what wholesale and retail strategies are CSPs adopting to monetise IoT connectivity?

Speakers:

  • Andrew Parkin-White – IoT Advisor @ MEF
  • Craig Price – Senior Vice President, Mobility Products and Marketing @ PCCW Global
  • David Hambling – CEO Asia Pacific @ Pod Group
  • Fernando Llobregat Baena – Head of IoT sales for Enterprise @ BICS
  • Martin Garner – Chief Operations Officer @ CCS Insight
  • Olaf Giehl – Senior Project Manager @ Telekom Global Carrier
  • Stuart Mitchell – Chief Evangelist and Head of Product @ ZARIOT

Possible Wholesale Futures

Hot Telecom’s Isabelle Paradis presents their predictions of Possible Wholesale Futures from their new report and invites industry leaders to discuss the findings.

Speakers:

  • Isabelle Paradis – President and Founder @ HOT TELECOM
  • Cedric Gonin – Senior Marketing Director Mobile Services @ Orange International Carriers
  • Christian Michaud – Senior Vice President Usage Based Services Voice & Mobility, @ Tata Communications
  • Ehsan Ahmadi – CEO @ VOX Carrier
  • Dawood Ghalaieny – CEO @ Cellusys

Interconnecting RCS worldwide – challenges and opportunities

The RCS opportunity : Where are we with intercarrier RCS?  How can Rich Business Messaging hubbing work?  Plus an update on MEF’s Open RCS MOU

Speakers:

  • Marcos Rodriguez Gonzalez – Business Development Manager @ Telefonica
  • Virginie Debris – Chief Product Officer @ GMS
  • Giovanni Benini – Partner @ Global Telco Consult (GTC)
  • Carlos Aragon – Senior Director of Enterprise Solutions Marketing @ Mavenir
  • John Puma – Product Manager, Next Generation Solutions @ Syniverse
  • Brien Jones-Lantzy – Head of Carrier Relations North America @ Infobip
  • Eddie De Curtis – Vice President of Strategic Accounts @ Liveperson

Fighting back: The challenges & solutions for tackling voice fraud

Briefings & Panel Discussion

Challenges of Voice Fraud – Deutsche Telekom Global Carrier
STIR/SHAKEN – Neustar
Wangiri Blockchain Initiative – Risk & Assurance Group

Speakers:

  • Steve Heap – CTO @ HOT TELECOM
  • Eric Priezkalns – Director and Chief Executive @ Risk & Assurance Group
  • Katia González – Chairperson @ i3 Forum Fight Fraud Workstream
  • Prasanna Kumar Pasam – Sr.Manager – Product Management (Business Collaboration, Mobility & IoT Solutions) @ Tata Communications
  • Robert Teichmueller – Head of Global Carrier Fraud Management @ Deutsche Telekom
  • Jon Peterson – Neustar

Americas Spotlight

An open discussion giving a regional perspective and updates:

  • Impact of COVID19 on the wholesale markets in the region
  • Transformation trends in the region
  • Challenges & Opportunities
  • Predictions for 2021

Speakers:

  • John Wilkinson – CEO and Co-Founder @ TMT Analysis
  • Diego Dimentstein – Carrier Relations Manager for Latin America @ Vonage
  • Gabriel Paiewonsky – Partner Development Manager (LATAM) @ Modica Group
  • Clive Steady – Director of Sales @ Anam Technologies
  • Tim Green – Editor @ Mobile Ecosystem Forum
  • Paul Ruppert – Consultant @ Global Point View Ltd
  • Antonio Ordax De Castro – Head of Messaging & Customer Engagement | Digital Solutions, Mobile & New Business @ Telefónica International Wholesale Services

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Event Partners

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Speakers

John Murtagh

CTO, Anam Technologies

Clive Steady

Director of Sales, Anam Technologies

Clive Steady is Director of Sales at Anam since 2014. Clive has focused on Mobile Messaging technologies over the course of his career, working in various leadership roles with Aldiscon, Logica, Gemini Mobile Technologies, Acision & Ammeon.

Fernando Llobregat Baena

Head of IoT sales for Enterprise, BICS

Fernando Llobregat Baena is Head of IoT sales for Enterprise at BICS.
He has worked for 15 years in telecommunications, focusing in IoT for the past 5, collaborating with Sigfox and several start-ups in the IoT environment.
Previously he has worked in software and mobile services for multinational companies in France, Spain and Belgium.
He holds an engineering degree from Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and a Master in Economy of Telecommunications and Enterprise Finance by UNED.

Jerome Gasic

Head of Messaging, BICS

Jerome has 20 years’ experience in telecoms, having held senior positions in the carrier business. He took over BICS’ messaging business in 2020.
Thanks to a strong sales experience dealing with various regions and telecom services, especially voice, roaming and messaging, he gained a valuable experience to build successful model to help operators monetize their messaging assets.
Jerome is a French citizen based in Brussels. He studied in France and Canada and hold a degree in Business Administration.

Martin Garner

Chief Operations Officer, CCS Insight

Martin holds a BSc in electrical and electronic engineering from the University of Bristol and an MBA from City University in London. He was at Ovum for 17 years, where he built up the mobile practice, was director of research and established the Wireless Intelligence joint venture with the GSM Association. At CCS Insight, Martin focuses on Internet agenda-setting companies, the services and experiences they offer, and the wider role of technology across various sectors of the economy, including machine-to-machine (M2M) connectivity and the Internet of things.

Dawood Ghalaieny

CEO, Cellusys

Having come from a long history within the mobile ecosystem in mobile parking, mobile marketing and pioneering the regulatory framework of SMS shortcodes as early as 2001.

After leading Ireland’s introduction to mobile marketing his involvement has moved into the mobile CS and PS core network. He is currently CEO at Cellusys whose systems at the centre of controlling mobile networks signaling, for security, roaming and IoT serving over 700 million subscribers globally.

José García

Founder, Global Telco Consult (GTC)

José García has +20 years’ experience in telecoms, having held senior positions in fixed net and mobile technology companies. Today he is MD of GTC, a company he founded in 2014. GTC provides consultancy related to messaging services to mobile operators, SMS aggregators and voice carriers. José is recognized as an expert in messaging.

As former VP of Sales & Carrier Relations at tyntec, José gained a deep industry expertise developing profitable SMS and virtual number business across the globe. Previously, he managed the operator department of mobile payments business in Central and Southern Europe for Netsize, a Gemalto company. Before then he worked for Verizon where he headed up a European team responsible for international voice services over almost 10 years. José holds a Spanish citizenship, is based in Munich and studied in Frankfurt where he obtained his Master’s degree in Business Administration.

Giovanni Benini

Partner, Global Telco Consult (GTC)

Partner at Global Telco Consult, mobile messaging evangelist Giovanni brings 25+ years of telecom experience and RCS expertise. Previously as Senior Director of Product Management for OpenMarket’s Global SMS services, he grew the OpenMarket SMS business significantly over his 4 year tenure. Prior to GTC and OpenMarket, Giovanni held a variety of Product Management and Business Development positions in the space of SMS, Voice and Unified Communication at different companies in Europe and USA like Siemens and tyntec. Giovanni graduated from Bayreuth and Manchester University with a Masters in Physics.

Virginie Debris

Chief Product Officer, GMS

Mobile executive with over 15 years of experience in simplifying things and "getting them to work (better)".
Passionate about digital technologies and human interactions.

Specialties:
Customer centric management of technical operations, Product Strategy & Development, Innovation, Mobile Applications and Messaging.
Management and facilitation of cross-functional teams in international and multi-cultural contexts.

David Vigar

Partner Development Manager - Messaging Strategy, Google

David is an experienced Business Development professional specialising in Communication Services. Coming from a background in voice, David has spent the last nine years working in the Messaging space. David an early stage member of the Nexmo team, building the Carrier Relations, Commercial Operations and Wholesale functions from the ground up through to Nexmo's $225m acquisition by Vonage. Passionate about working to enable growth in Africa, more recently, David has been working to build channel partnerships in the nascent Business Communications space while building and executing on a strategy for how Google product areas communicate with users through Messaging. David is a regular speaker at industry events. In his spare time, David is a keen flautist, playing with the Kew Wind Orchestra, he collects wine and lives in Berkhamsted with his wife and three boys.

Isabelle Paradis

President and Founder, HOT TELECOM

Isabelle is President and Founder of HOT TELECOM, one of the most innovative and creative telecom research and consulting companies in the industry. HOT TELECOM has been supporting Tier-1 and Tier-2 operators on a global basis for over 18 years, more particularly on the subjects of International and wholesale.
More recently, Isabelle has been working with many of the world's telecom service providers to help them define their transformation strategy and has written multiple articles and speaks at conferences on this topic. She is also passionate about encouraging the involvement of women in technology and science and continuously conducts panels and interviews with leading and inspiring telecom women around the world.
Isabelle holds a Bachelor degree in Engineering, an MBA in Finance and has over 28 years experience working globally.

Steve Heap

CTO, HOT TELECOM

Steve is Chief Technology Officer of HOT TELECOM. He has a lifetime of senior leadership experience in designing, engineering and operating networks, both domestic and international. With leadership experience in small technology start-ups through to global service providers, he has deep experience in a wide range of products, technologies and geographies.

Steve holds a Bachelor degree in Physics from Imperial College in the University of London and has over 40 years of experience working for globally recognized telecom companies.

Katia González

Chairperson, i3 Forum Fight Fraud Workstream

Katia is Head of Fraud and Security at BICS.
With more than 15 years of experience in the Mobile and Wholesale Telecom industry, Katia has held different positions in the Wholesale Carrier Business that allow her to understand the various aspects of the business as well as its challenges and more specifically regarding fraud risks for the different industry verticals MNO, MVNx, OTT, IOT, Enterprise, CPAAS/UCAAS, Cloud Communications and Wholesale.
Katia also actively participates in defining Industry guidelines regarding fraud protection and chairs the i3 Forum Fraud Group, a non-profit organization focused on supporting carrier business transformation with a strong focus on fraud fighting. The i3 Forum brings together the communications expertise of the major telecommunications providers, representing an extensive fixed and mobile retail base totalling over two billion customers in over 100 countries.

Patrick George

Product and Business Development, iBasis

Patrick is leading iBASIS product and service roadmap as such is responsible for evaluating product and partnership strategies that are likely to provide opportunities for iBasis to enhance its portfolio and market position. He’s also leading and overseeing iBasis’ innovation across multiple teams.
Patrick was also instrumental in the completion of both acquisitions, iBASIS and Altice N.V. International Carriers in France, Portugal and Dominican Republic. He worked very closely with Tofane Global CEO and investors during the transactions with Royal KPN N.V and Altice N.V which resulted in the merger of the 4 entities, making the new iBASIS, 3rd largest global wholesale voice carrier.
Patrick brings to iBasis over 20 years of hands-on experience in telecommunications, mobile data product development, marketing strategy, management and team leadership globally.
Formerly, He served at SVP Global Solutions at Syniverse helping Syniverse, just after the acquisition by Carlyle, to structure and develop further outside North America. He also created the consulting product line for Syniverse. Prior to that he was SVP marketing and product management at BICS, with profit and loss accountability, including the overall global product management - voice, messaging, Mobile data - across segment and was responsible for all the marketing related activities and strategy. He was also member of i3 Forum Steering Committee. Patrick served as senior consultant for mobile ecosystems at PCCW, responsible for defining the strategy to penetrate the mobile operators segment with new portfolio. In the past, Patrick has worked as senior consultant to various telecommunication companies and spoke at many international communications conferences and summits.
Additionally, Patrick enjoyed 20 years of classical music in symphonic orchestra
Patrick received a BS degree in Civil Engineering in Computer Science from University of Liège and followed executive education programs in B2B Marketing at Vlerick School and Marketing in telecommunications at INSEAD.

Eddie DeCurtis

LivePerson

Suzy Menneret

Independent Strategy and Business Development Advisor

Suzy Menneret is an independent consultant and a seasoned advisor in the fields of strategy, business transformation and development, and change management. She has extensive experience in the international wholesale industry in which she worked for over 17 years. Prior to her current role, she was the market & strategy expert of the international wholesale division of the Deutsche Telekom Group until March 2020. Since 2017, she has also been actively involved in international wholesale industry forum activities. She represented Deutsche Telekom at the board of the i3Forum until 2020. In this role, she also led strategy initiatives and numerous international carrier industry projects, such as the i3Forum Insights.
Suzy started her career in a variety of sales roles within France Telecom in the United Kingdom, before moving to the radio communications environment where she held a leading marketing management position in the European Headquarters of New Zealand based Tait Electronics Ltd. She then went on to join the international wholesale arm of Deutsche Telekom in 2003 and held several management, expert and consulting roles within the areas of international wholesale strategy and market intelligence.
Over her long-standing career, Suzy has developed extensive expertise across both the radio communications and telecommunications segments, with a specific focus on wholesale and international carrier markets.

Brien Jones-Lantzy

Head of Telecommunications, Infobip

Brien Jones-Lantzy is the Head of Telecommunications for Infobip. As the leader of this division he oversees the growth and partnerships of the platform as it expands in the North American Market. Brien has been a tireless leader in the Wireless space constantly pushing the envelope of development and growth. He is considered an expert in Wireless Technology and cutting edge software.

Jason Lunn

SVP Commercial, IMImobile

Following a successful career within Infracast for over 8 years, I have continued with my passionate approach to high quality messaging within IMImobile, now being responsible for connectivity for the billions of personalised communications which are transmitted by the IMImobile group to consumers every year. This volume has been earned by applying the ethos of MEF and focussing on high quality routes to give the best quality of service to business customers and building their confidence.

We are now in our 4th year of active MEF membership and have introduced many others to the forum with the goal of improving the messaging eco-system for the benefit of all. Most recently I have being heavily involved in bringing the UK mobile operators together to ensure a future successful outcome with MEF for the ‘Smishing’ initiative. This initiative feels closer than ever to approval and implementation and will be a major step forward in maintaining trust in messaging.

Sam Barker

Lead Analyst, Juniper Research

Sam Barker is a Lead Analyst with Juniper Research. Sam’s focus areas are key connected verticals including digital advertising, digital health, automotive and smart homes.
His recent research reports include: Future Digital Advertising Artificial Intelligence & Advertising Fraud; Augmented & Mixed Reality: Innovation, Disruption & Future Prospects; Mobile Messaging: Operator Strategies & Vendor Opportunities.

He previously worked as project support analyst for a major online retailer, planning, forecasting and reporting on budgets for large company projects.
Sam’s most recent speaking engagement includes Carrier Community (Berlin, May 2019), featuring in multiple panels on the future of the telecommunications market. Sam holds a BSc (Hons) in Economics from the University of Portsmouth.

Carlos Aragon

Senior Director of Enterprise Solutions Marketing, Mavenir

Senior Director of Enterprise Solutions Marketing at Mavenir. He has extensive experience with real time communications, mobile and fixed-line Unified Communication (UC) services, UC as a Service and WebRTC as well as in-depth knowledge of related user experience fields such as video production and animation.

Carlos has two decades of experience in telecommunications, starting his career in a technical support engineering role for Ericsson; supporting 2G/3G switching, intelligent networks and GPRS. In 2000 he joined Nortel, where he held pre-sales and global product marketing responsibilities for Wireless Packet Core and, later, Multimedia Applications. In 2010 Carlos transferred to GENBAND as part of their Nortel acquisition (and then Ribbon Communications as part of their merger with Sonus Networks), where he had marketing responsibilities for Cloud and Platform-as-a-Service offers. In 2018 Carlos joined the Mavenir team to help mobile network operators provide innovative solutions for the enterprise of the future.

Carlos Aragon holds a bachelor's degree in telecommunications engineering from Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.

Dario Betti

CEO, MEF

Dario’s experience in the mobile industry goes back to 1999; first as a consultant for Ovum advocating for to the nascent Mobile VAS, then launching the first Mobile Internet in Europe with the T-Mobile group. More recently expanding the concept of innovative partnerships between telcos and digital players in Asia and the Middle East, for Ooredoo (Qatar, Indonesia, Myanmar) and Axiata (Indonesia) and as Director of Products for MTS, the leading Russian Telecom. Over the year he has also taken non executives director roles in IoT and Digital Marketing companies. In February 2019 Dario took over the role of CEO at the Mobile Ecosystem Forum, after a long collaboration with the organisation.

Dario’s focus is in creating new business opportunities in the fast changing digital world, and he enjoys the cultural challenges of working in different countries.

Joanne Lacey

COO, MEF

Joanne joined MEF as COO in 2013 to oversee its global programming and PL. She was appointed to the global board in November 2018. She leads the MEF team to deliver a roadmap of industry programmes and member services including events, knowledge sharing platforms as well as MEF’s award winning blog. She is responsible for the development of its industry partnerships and oversees MEF’s Future of Messaging Programme which through cross-stakeholder collaboration tackles fraud and promotes the enterprise messaging channel.

Joanne has worked in the mobile industry since 2000 helping to establish the nascent mobile games ecosystem with market pioneer I-play (Digital Bridges) and later more broadly looking at mobile entertainment services with Player X / Zed Worldwide. She has worked across the mobile ecosystem partnering with MNOs, solution providers and content owners.

Tim Green

Editor, MEF

Tim Green is a UK-based freelance journalist, copywriter and analyst. He been writing about technology – particularly mobile – for 20 years, first as senior analyst with Screen Digest, then editor of Mobile Entertainment. Today, he writes reports, white papers and eBooks for clients including Citibank, Juniper Research, Gemalto and the mobile operator organisation GSMA. He is currently features editor for the trade body MEF.

Andrew Parkin-White

IoT Advisor, MEF

Andrew is a highly experienced TMT (telecoms, media and technology) consulting, research and strategy professional. During his 25 year career, he has provided strategic advice and insight to a broad range of communications service providers, vendors, regulators and financial institutions. He has held leadership roles in leading advisory firms including Analysys Mason, Ovum, KPMG, IDC and worked as an in-company strategist for BT.

He has worked across a wide range of TMT markets with broad experience in consumer and enterprise and a strong focus on the mobile sector. More recently, he has focused in the areas of IoT and Smart Cities. He has helped organisations with strategy development and implementation, competitive positioning, product development, forecasting, business planning, go-to-market solutions, regulatory issues, transaction support and due diligence.

Nick Lane

Chief Insight Analyst, Mobilesquared

Nick specialises in all aspects of the mobile and telecommunications industries, and has written strategic industry reports on diverse mobile topics including messaging, unified communications, mpayments, mobile advertising, premium rate services, apps and content, and technology. Over the past ten years, Nick has become recognised as a leading authority on business messaging, as a result of Mobilesquared's deep dive research into the messaging market. Nick regularly speaks at messaging events around the world including; Mobile World Congress, Messaging & SMS World, WAS and GSMA Messaging Labs. Nick’s work is extensively covered in the mobile, business, and marketing press, and he has been interviewed by media including the Sunday Times, BBC, Bloomberg, The Financial Times, Forbes, and CNN. He is a judge for the Global Mobile Awards, Messaging & SMS Global Awards, the MEFFYS and the EMMAs. Prior to founding Mobilesquared, Nick was principal analyst at Ovum, after having spent ten years as a tech journalist working on leading global B2B titles.

Phillip Linder

Partner Development Manager (ASIA), Modica Group

Nick specialises in all aspects of the mobile and telecommunications industries, and has written strategic industry reports on diverse mobile topics including messaging, unified communications, mpayments, mobile advertising, premium rate services, apps and content, and technology. Over the past ten years, Nick has become recognised as a leading authority on business messaging, as a result of Mobilesquared's deep dive research into the messaging market. Nick regularly speaks at messaging events around the world including; Mobile World Congress, Messaging & SMS World, WAS and GSMA Messaging Labs. Nick’s work is extensively covered in the mobile, business, and marketing press, and he has been interviewed by media including the Sunday Times, BBC, Bloomberg, The Financial Times, Forbes, and CNN. He is a judge for the Global Mobile Awards, Messaging & SMS Global Awards, the MEFFYS and the EMMAs. Prior to founding Mobilesquared, Nick was principal analyst at Ovum, after having spent ten years as a tech journalist working on leading global B2B titles.

Gabriel Paiewonsky

Partner Development Manager (LATAM), Modica Group

Seasoned telecom executive with 20 years of experience in the wholesale carrier voice/data services, integrated telecommunications sales management & team building, quality & revenue assurance practice and intelligent SMS messaging.

Kedar Gupte

General Manager - Wholesale Mobility, MTN GlobalConnect

Kedar Gupte is a seasoned professional in international consumer telecommunication with 20 years’ experience in the telecom industry, IT and consumer electronics. Kedar is the General Manager of Wholesale Mobility at MTN GlobalConnect, based out of Dubai, UAE. He leads a highly skilled team of sales, business development, commercial, and product management experts who operate in the wholesale market leveraging MTN Groups’ international mobile infrastructure. He worked at Reliance Communications, Vodafone India, Vodafone Group and Tanla Solutions focusing on International Markets.
Kedar holds an Electronics & Telecommunication Engineer degree from the University of Mumbai and brings a wealth of global and diverse business experience. He operates in the wholesale mobility space with an entrepreneurial mindset and is passionate about spotting opportunity and identifying trends in consumer, enterprise and wholesale telecommunication segments.

Alper Tunga Burak

CEO, Odine Solutions

Alper Tunga Burak is the CEO of Odine Solutions. He takes an active role in building the strategy for developing new markets, new verticals and diversification of group business lines, as well as strategic marketing with his 21 years of industry experience. He joined Odine Solutions in 2006 at start upbringing years of telecommunications experience in product development, business development, sales engineering, marketing and strategic planning paving the way for Odine Solutions to its current market stance with 170 carriers/operators in 36 different countries. Prior to joining Odine Solutions, he was leading the Product & Business development unit of Turkcell Superonline where his role was transforming the company from a leading ISP into a Communications Services Provider. Mr.Burak holds an M.S. degree in Engineering and Technology Management from Bogazici University and a B.S. degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Istanbul Technical University.

Alfredo Muñoz Montero

Product Manager, Orange Wholesale Spain

Working at the Business Development department at Orange Wholesale, I have been involved in the RCS Person-to-person (P2P) launch in Orange Spain and I am currently leading the development of A2P RCS Business Messaging services.
Our current focus is to drive clients into developing use cases with RCS.

Sandrine Dutertre

Messaging Security Products Manager, Orange

Sandrine has been with the Orange Group for over 20 years, and held several different positions before joining the wholesale division, International Carriers’ in the Mobile Marketing team where she has since consolidated and grown her Marketing experience. Beginning as a Project Manager in charge of developing Value Added Services on Signalling Roaming, Sandrine spent ten years in that role before joining the Messaging team in 2017. Since then, Sandrine has been in charge of developing the portfolio for Messaging Security, and her current focus is on the future evolution security for Messaging services.
Sandrine is a Masters’ Graduate in English & Spanish and she particularly enjoys spending her time in multi-cultural environments, both professionally and personally.

Cedric Gonin

Senior Marketing Director Mobile Services, Orange International Carriers

Mr. Cedric Gonin is Senior Marketing Director for Mobile Services at Orange International Carriers covering wholesale activities for International Mobiles services for roaming and interconnect since 5 years.
Since 1997, Mr. Cedric Gonin has been in charge of several responsibilities in Orange Business Services activities leading pre-sales support for VPN, security and mobility products for international large accounts
He was Wireless Broadband Director at Orange France leading the Orange Wi-Fi activity from 2008 to 2012. defining the strategy for the development of the Orange Wi-Fi network for the Business, Consumer and Wholesale market, and to evaluate the usage, and potential consequences of new services.
During 2013, Mr Cedric Gonin was Director of Data Strategy for Orange International Carriers
Mr. Cedric Gonin is Treasurer and Director of the Wireless Broadband Alliance Board since 2008 and was co-chair of WBA from 2008 to 2015. He’s also board director of i3Forum since 2013.
Mr. Cedric Gonin holds a M.S. in telecommunications and IT from Versailles University, France, and attended an intrapreneurship program within Orange.

Eric Priezkalns

Director and Chief Executive, Risk & Assurance Group

Craig Price

Senior Vice President, Mobility Products and Marketing, PCCW Global

Craig heads up the Mobility Products and Marketing team for PCCW Global,
which is an affiliate of HKT, and is part of the PCCW Group. That team is
responsible for mobility products including IPX, A2P, IoT and Mobile Payment
Solutions.
35 years professional, management and senior management experience in the
IT and Telecom industries working for blue chip IT companies and Telcos such
as IBM, Cable and Wireless and SingTel/Optus, and various other
telecommunication companies and joint ventures with expertise in:
 Developing strategic business plans, organisational and operational
plans and leading the implementation of those plans.
 Leading sales/business development, marketing teams, customer
delivery, product management and development teams and solutions
consultancy teams.
 Developing and managing various start-ups and driving organisational
change in various other telecommunication companies.
 Country management and CXO experience in Middle East, Australia &
Oceania and South East Asia.

David Hambling

CEO Asia Pacific, Pod Group

David Hambling has extensive experience in both business development and public relations roles in the telecoms sector and has worked with some of the largest Telcos in Europe. Attracted by the Pod Group philosophy and business model, David began working for the company in 2014. Since then he has taken an active role in promoting Pod Group through events across all our global markets, including participating in panel discussions throughout Europe, leading trade missions and acting as a media spokesperson. David now heads up the business in Asia Pacific, where he is focused on building relationships with customers and partners in this thriving and vibrant market.

Kevin Graham

Chief Development Officer, SMSHIGHWAY

Kevin is responsible for the continued development and growth of the SMS Highway Group. He joined SMS Highway in 2017 after almost 10 years with The JT Group, initially managing their subsidiary in Guernsey before helping to create the company's Global Division.

His experience spans the entire mobile ecosystem having worked with some of the world's largest enterprises, vendors, resellers and mobile network operators.

Kevin has worked closely with MNOs across the globe for almost a decade developing solutions to secure, monetise and control the flow of enterprise A2P messaging services.

John Puma

RCS Product Manager, Syniverse

John has been in the telecom industry focused on Systems Engineering, Business Development and Product Management for more than 20 years. He has been actively involved in leading mobile messaging infrastructure product initiatives at Motorola Networks, Infinite Convergence Solutions and currently at Syniverse Technologies. Since 2009, John has been actively engaged in RCS messaging, participating in the design of the RCS Application Server as well as early versions of an RCS Hub. John has spoken at several GSMA RCS conferences and is currently participating in MEF (Mobile Ecosystem Forum) discussions regarding RCS issues, most notably the Verification Authority working group. Currently John leads Syniverse’s hosted RCS A2P MaaP Aggregation product initiatives. Key focus areas are centered on RCS MaaP Aggregations solutions for; MNO Groups, Country and Regional implementations, and, value added solutions addressing the Monetization of RCS A2P and P2A conversational e-commerce. These additional value-added solutions include RCS MaaP Rating Service and BOT Vetting and Verification Services. John holds a Master of Business Administration from Boston University.

Anurag Aggarwal

Director, Messaging Services, Tata Communications

Anurag Aggarwal heads the commercial arm of Tata Communications’ Messaging Business and has played a significant role in steering the service over a growth trajectory ever since it’s inception. His internal mandate includes carrier relations, enterprise connect and strategic partnerships.

He is part of the leadership arm of the Tata Group and his work experience spans over a decade including exposure to varied sectors such as telecommunications, steel, chemicals, power and the retail industry.

Prasanna Kumar Pasam

Sr.Manager - Product Management (Business Collaboration, Mobility & IoT Solutions), Tata Communications

With more than 12 years of broad expertise in telecom landscape, ranging from Core Networks Design to Value Added Services and Roaming, my latest challenge is applying AI/ML in combination with more traditional models to prevent voice frauds as well as extending our capabilities to other services such as A2P Messaging and IoT.

Christian Michaud

Senior Vice President Usage Based Services Voice & Mobility, Tata Communications

Christian Michaud drives and executes strategies to deliver revenue growth for Tata Communications’ Voice & Mobility Core Services. Via strategic partnerships, he has transformed Tata Communications’ wholesale voice carrier business from a service to a stable, less volatile business, and contributed to the growth of new innovative services in the service provider market.

Throughout his career, he has operated at the vanguard of the industry’s migration of voice towards data, fixed mobile and the increasing impact of OTT players. As Vice Chairman of the board of the i3 Forum, he has spearheaded many industry developments, such as the international rollout of the all-IP infrastructure.

Marcos Rodriguez Gonzalez

Business Development Manager, Telefonica

Marcos is a Telecommunications engineer and UX specialist who has many years’ experience in the Mobile Communications market. Marcos has worked at Telefonica International Wholesale Services for 8 years, covering positions in Product Development and Marketing across different business areas, always with particular focus on mobile solutions development. In his current role as a Business Development Manager for mobile services, his main responsibility is to ensure the long term success of this market segment by bringing new mobile business lines to market (Mobile engagement services, RCS initiatives, CPaaS, etc).

Ignacio García Comín

Director of Digital and Mobile Solutions, Telefonica Business Solutions

Olaf Giehl

Senior Project Manager, Telekom Global Carrier

2008 - 2009
Magyar Telekom Plc.
Head of Technology Program Management

2010 - 2011 Magyar Telekom Plc., Hungary
Head of Fixed Access Development

2012 - 2013
Magyar Telekom Plc.
Director Group Internal Audit

2014 - 2017
Magyar Telekom Plc.
Corporate Agility Officer
2017 - 2018
Magyar Telekom Plc.
Director Operational Development & Business Demand Management

2018 - 2019
Magyar Telekom Plc.
Director Corporate Security & Quality Management
since 2019 Deutsche Telekom Global Carrier
Senior Project Manager
 Premium IPX
 GLF Critical IoT
 RCS (rich communication services)

Robert Teichmueller

Head of Global Carrier Fraud Management, Telekom Global Carrier

Since 2016 Robert Teichmueller is head of Deutsche Telekom Global Carrier (TGC) fraud management and in charge to permanantly improve the capabilities of DT to manage all aspects of voice fraud. This task includes the coordination of commercial and technical requirements and a close cooperation with internal and external partners.
TGC is strongly committed to fight against all fraud and significantly improved the degree of speed and automation to stop fraud by implementing a 24/7 customized big data monitoring and blocking solution.
Additionally Robert is exploring opportunities of blockchain within TGC and an active member of thei3Forum and GLF blockchain working group for wholesale voice settlements.
He joined DT in 2015 after working many years for another international telecom company and a German mobile operator.

Csaba Füzesi

Head of Product Management - Voice & Mobile Services, Telekom Global Carrier

Csaba Füzesi is Head of Product Management within Telekom Global Carrier responsible for the international Voice & Mobile product portfolio. Csaba has more than 20 years of industry experience in telecommunication and IT. He began his career at Telenor Hungary. Later assumed several technical, pre-sales and product management positions at the national and international arms of Telia Company in Sweden and Hungary. Since 2015, Csaba is heading product management responsible for the overall PM and innovation activities at Netlock, one of the leading digital trust service providers within the European Union. Csaba has spent more than 10 years in strategic product management and has a unique combination of commercial and technical competence in multinational and cross-cultural environments.

Aqeel Ahmed

Senior Product Expert for Messaging and Digital Solutions, Telenor Global Wholesale

Aqeel Ahmed is Senior Product Expert for Messaging and Digital Solutions at Telenor Global Wholesale AS. With over 12 years of experience in ICT industry with various roles, Aqeel is spending most of his time now in exploring and designing messaging solutions for Telenor to strengthen their foot print in the messaging domain. Aqeel, together with his team developed centralized A2P Gateway for Telenor in combination with in-premise SMS firewall solution to maximize A2P revenues by implementing the advance analytics to stop grey traffic and better pricing strategy.
Aqeel recently completed his Executive MBA degree from Norwegian Business School and implementing the learnings in developing new business models towards ongoing digitalization development at Telenor by introducing new way of design thinking and methods.

Moosa Abid Babar

Team Leader BSS SLM, Telenor Pakistan

Fabio Bottan

Senior Messaging Specialist | Voice and Messaging Trading, Telia Company

Fabio Bottan, Senior Messaging Specialist at Telia Company brings 20 years of telecom experience divided among different positions within Mobile Operators, Platform Vendors and International Carriers.
In the past 10 years Fabio have helped international telecom groups to develop and implement special advanced messaging solutions mainly focused on combat of different types of telecom frauds and empowering Mobile Operators improving revenues and customer experience.
Fabio holds a degree in Telecom Engineering and MBA in Business Administration.

John Wilkinson

CEO and Co-Founder, TMT Analysis

John is the CEO and Co-Founder of TMT Analysis, a leading supplier of global mobile number intelligence.
John has more than 20 years’ experience in telecommunications and technology, with a proven track record creating and selling technology products.

From tier 1 operators such as AT&T, Swisscom and Interoute to high tech start-ups. John has also successfully launched a number of big data products, as well as mobile and unified communication solutions.

Fernando Guardone

Wholesale Sales Manager, Vodafone Spain

Fernando Guardone, has studied economy and business administration. He has more than 25 years of experience working for different companies in Latam and Europe. During last years managing wholesale areas including voice, data and sms for companies like Tele2, Vodafone Carrier Services and now Vodafone Spain.
He is responsible for the Vodafone Spain wholesale team that is launching RCS A2P for aggregators and MNOs.
Vodafone Spain was first operator to launch RCS in Spain and count now with the most extensive customer base with around 4M users with RCS available.

Diego Dimentstein

Carrier Relations Manager, Vonage

I’ve been involved in the Latin American mobile messaging industry for more than 15 years.
Since 2013, I’ve been working for Vonage (previously Nexmo) as Carrier Relations Manager for Latin America. Prior to this role, I was Mobile Sales Manager for iBasis KPN. Before this, I worked at the Buenos Aires HQ for an international mobile content supplier.

Shanka Silva

Carrier Relations Director Europe, Vonage

Shanka is a telecoms professional with over 15 years of experience in A2P SMS and Voice.

Since he has joined the industry he has served the companies Primus (AKA PTGI), Arbinet, iBasis and Nexmo in the capacities of Business Analyst, Trading Manager, Procurement Manager and Head of procurement respectively.

Currently, Shanka is serving Vonage, based out of London, United Kingdom in the capacity of Carrier Relations Director responsible for carrier connectivity in the European region with the co- responsibilities of managing India termination development initiatives.

Mohammed Buari

Africa Carrier Director, Vonage

House 3A, 2 Aderibigbe Shitta Street, Off Ikorodu Road, Maryland, Lagos, Nigeria
Mohammed started his professional life within the Telecommunications Industry from the Core technical background working with CDMA and later GSM operators. Was in charge of Interconnection and roaming services for MTN Nigeria and later MTN Group operations.
Involved in the monetization of SMS and USSD Gateway of MTN Nigeria and many VAS system commercial integration with various partners including monitoring, operation and definition of the charging streams. He has worked within MTN Group Enterprise Business Unit and later the company Wholesale Business units, working from a centralized functional, technical and commercial perspective. Mohammed has extensive history liaising and dealing with National and regional regulators across Africa as well as being engaged with numerous operators and or their carriers.
Background includes Leadership and Management of Multifunctional Operations, Operational and Commercial Strategy Development and Operation, Business Development and Overall Business Problem Solving. Experience in decision making roles having been part of several procurement processes involving mobile operators across the globe, Vendors, Contractors as well as service providers, working in tandem or as turnkey projects.
Highlights of experience include:
• Leading Teams to propel project and/or Product Launch Success; Managing of Project and/or Product Life Cycles
• Time Management and Organizational skills along with project management experience to ensure the Time, Cost and Outcome do not go beyond the business case(s) for such systems
• Implementing and Investigating Organizational and/or System Controls to forestall abuses and or frauds and to ensure projects and/or products continue to maximize profit and customer satisfaction.
• Contract Management and Negotiation Skills enabling the company to be protected contractually and being able to clearly define contractual liability and/or responsibility
• Relationship and Human Resource Management enabling internal and external parties to go beyond the call of duty to ensure that the best Interest of the establishment is always served

Edwin Carvalho

Senior Carrier Services Director, Vonage

Edwin is a Telecoms expert with over a decade worth of experience in A2P and P2P messaging, PSMS, voice and signalling.
Since starting in this field, Edwin has performed numerous commercial, technical and operational roles at messaging hubs and cloud communications platforms having been responsible for global routing at Nexmo (now Vonage) and for launching technically and operationally the Quintatech and HGC messaging hubs and the Vietnamobile SMS firewall.

Currently, Edwin is Vonage’s strategic carrier relations director and is responsible for ensuring that Vonage customers have access to the best connectivity worldwide and for driving innovation with carriers to bring to market new solutions for the Cpaas market. And an advisor at Homehero, a fast-growing London start-up.

Ehsan Ahmadi

CEO, VOX Carrier

– MBA, Innovation and Entrepreneurship
– 17+ years telecoms voice industry experience and entrepreneurship
– 7 years experience as Chairman at VOX Carrier

Lee Suker

Market Development Director & Data Protection Officer, xconnect

Lee Suker joined XConnect as Market Development Director in 2017. Lee holds an honours degree in Computer Science from the University of Warwick and 25 years of experience in the software and telecommunications industry. Lee has spent the last 15 years in product and market leadership roles, and is an industry specialist in Telephone Number information for the A2P Messaging, Banking and e-Commence industries. He is also a specialist in information security and privacy and a regular contributor to the Mobile Ecosystem Forum.

Stuart Mitchell

Chief Evangelist and Head of Product, ZARIOT

Stuart Mitchell is the Chief Evangelist and Head of Product at ZARIOT and is driven by a desire to safely connect the world’s devices. Having held a senior management position at VeriSign, Stuart moved into strategic roles in mobile telecom service providers and, just before joining the ZARIOT team, bootstrapped and successfully exited an internal IoT startup venture. A strong advocate of customer-first, Lean startup methodology, Stuart brings an entrepreneurial and characteristically lateral approach to every project he undertakes.

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