Shri Ravi Gandhi expert in Public Policy & Regulatory Affairs with a demonstrated career history in the telecommunications industry. Skilled in Business Management, Strategic Planning, Crossfunctional Team Leadership and Management

Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw is an Indian politician and former IAS officer who is currently serving as the 39th Minister of Railways, 55th Communications Minister and 2nd Electronics & Information Technology Minister in Government of India since 2021 and a member of the Rajya Sabha representing Odisha since 2019.

He graduated from MBM Engineering College (JNVU) Jodhpur in 1991 with a gold medal in an electronic and communications engineering course and then completed his M.Tech. from IIT Kanpur, before joining the Indian Administrative Services in 1994 with an all-India rank of 27. In 2008, Vaishnaw left for the US to do his MBA from Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

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Avinash Agarwal is an ITS Officer of the 1992 batch. He has 30 years of extensive experience in Telecommunications, Information Technology, and Broadcasting while serving in various positions in the Government of India.

Presently, he is posted as Deputy Director General at Telecommunication Engineering Centre, India’s Standards Setting Organisation, where is in-charge of the Radio, Standardisation, and Convergence & Broadcasting divisions.

Previously, as Additional Director General (IT) at Prasar Bharati, he headed various digital transformation initiatives for the twin networks of Doordarshan and All India Radio and also successfully delivered their Global Digital Platform and NewsOnAir Mobile App. This involved live streaming of 230+ radio channels, live TV, text news in multiple languages, podcasts, etc.

He also served as State Head Haryana, BBNL for the roll-out of the BharatNet Project for providing Optical Fibre Cable connectivity to 6000+ Gram Panchayats in Haryana.

Shri Shivendu Gupta is an officer of 1995 batch of Indian Post & Telecommunication Accounts and Finance Service (IP&T AFS). He is B.Tech(Mech Engg), CMA & CFA by qualification and has worked in BHEL from 1992 till 1996. He has served in various positions/locations in Department of Posts and Department of Telecommunications. Presently, he is DDG(Wireless Planning Finance) in Department of Telecommunications (DoT). His expertise lies in the area of Project Management, Procurement Finance and Spectrum Economics.

Shri Syed Tausif Abbas is currently working as Principal Advisor in TelecomRegulatory Authority of India (TRAI). He is responsible for regulatory andlicensing matters related to Broadcasting & Cable Services, Spectrum andNetworks.

He is an Engineering Graduate in Electronics & Telecommunications fromUniversity of Allahabad. Hebelongs to 1989 Batch of Indian Telecom Serviceofficers and has got more than 30 years of experience in Telecom Sector. Hehas worked in various positions in telecom domains covering TelecomProjects,Telecom operations, capacity building & training division,licensing, regulatory and policy formulation.

Presently, in TRAI, he is associated with the regulatory and licensing workrelated to Broadcasting & Cable Services including Cable TV, Satellite TV(DTH), IPTV, Radio broadcasting, Digital Addressable System, 5G Broadcast,Television Audience Measurements, Interconnection and QoS issues. He isalso associated with the works related to Mobile Networks, Spectrum andTelecom Licensing matters including 5G Technologies, M2MCommunications, IoT, PPDR Communications, Satellite Communications,Spectrum for IMT-2020 and Mobile Number Portability.

Currently, he also holds the position of Chairman of SATRC Working Groupon Spectrum at APT.

Lt Gen AK Bhatt (Retd) is currently the Director General of the Indian Space Association (ISpA), an apex industry body created to be the collective voice of the Indian Space industry. He has been the first Director General of the Indian Space Association (ISpA).

General Bhatt has held apex leadership and management positions in the Indian Army at the Army Headquarters in the Indian Defense services for over 38 years. Among his many appointments, he has been Principal Staff Officer (PSO) to the Chief of Army Staff twice, while serving in the capacity of Military Secretary, responsible for HR management in the Army as the Director General Military Operations wherein he was responsible for operational of the entire Indian Army. He was DGMO during the critical period of Doklam faceoff with Chinese in 2017. General Bhatt has held critical operational appointments of the Corps Commander of Prestigious Chinar Corps in Srinagar in 2018 and General Office Commanding Division in Assam. Both the assignments involved intimate interactions with multiple agencies including Central and State Govts, members of civil society and academia. His ability to synergize and implement challenging decisions, taking along all stake holders together has been his forte. General Bhatt has spearheaded several projects and has demonstrated great ability in building collaborative consensus while providing mentorship.

He has headed numerous studies aimed at developing implementable solutions to complex challenges and has unparalleled insight when it comes to the functioning of the Ministry of Defense, Department of Military Affairs, State Govt and Civil Administration. General Bhatt has an eye for astute quality, an unerring ability to ensure everyone under his charge complies to laws, rules and regulations and has built many a top-quality team of professionals that demonstrate this. Amongst his many military assignments is his command of a multinational unit in a UN mission in the Lebanon – Israel border and tenure as instructor in Commando Wing.

During a career spanning four decades, General Bhatt has been the recipient of several awards from the Government of India. The most recent include the Param Vishisht Seva Medal (2021) and other prestigious recognitions such as Uttam Yudh Seva Medal (2019), Ati Vishist Seva Medal (2015), Sena Medal (2014), Vishist Seva Medal (2012), Chief of Army Staff Commendation Card (2008) for his dedicated service to the nation. General Bhatt is a graduate of Army Staff College in UK, he has a Masters in Management Studies from Osmania University and an M.Phill in Defense & Strategic Studies from the prestigious Madras University in Chennai. He has done his early Schooling from Hampton Court School and St George’s College in Mussoorie.

On 26th August 2023, The President of India has appointed him as the Chairperson of Board of Governors of IIIT Kota for a period of three years. As Director General of Indian Space Association (ISpA) he has been working relentlessly to create and energize the private space ecosystem in India and has been at the forefront as a single voice of the entire Space Sector.

Dr Neeraj Mittal is an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer belonging to the 1992 Tamil Nadu cadre and presently working as Chairman, Digital Communication Commission (DCC) and Secretary, DoT since Sept, 2023. He completed his graduation from IIT Kanpur and holds MBA degree from Cranfield University, UK. He completed his PhD degree in Economics from Ohio State University, USA.

Dr Neeraj Mittal held several senior positions before joining DoT, including CMD of TN Urban Finance and Infrastructure Development Corporation, Chennai and Principal Secretary (IT) in the Government of Tamil Nadu and many more.

Radha Krishna Ganti is an Associate Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India. He received his B. Tech. and M. Tech. in EE from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, and a Masters in Applied Mathematics and a Ph.D. in EE from the University of Notre Dame in 2009. He is a co-author of the monograph Interference in Large Wireless Networks (NOW Publishers, 2008). He received the 2014 IEEE Stephen O. Rice Prize, and the 2014 IEEE Leonard G. Abraham Prize and the 2015 IEEE Communications society young author best paper award. He was also awarded the 2016-2017 Institute Research and Development Award (IRDA) by IIT Madras. In 2019, he was awarded the TSDSI fellow for technical excellence in standardisation activities and contribution to LMLC use case in ITU. He was the lead PI from IITM involved in the development of 5G base stations for the 5G testbed project funded by DOT.

LT Col V S Velan, an Indian Army Veteran, is driven by a deep purpose of seeing a NavIC enabled India. He founded Elena Geo Systems which work in the niche domain of NavIC based monitoring. His deep domain knowledge sets the strategy for Elena Geo Systems today and innovating for tomorrow. He enjoys challenging assignments and has not been afraid to take on completely new areas and develop expertise. His integrity and authenticity has been the driving force behind Elena’s success. Lt Col V S Velan has been working in GNSS domain from 1998. He has been associated in NavIC / IRNSS, since its inception in June 2008. He was the system manager for development of monitoring system and GIS for the armed forces during 2003-2011.In 2011 he took premature retirement to pursue PHD in this domain. Elena's products are result of research combined with his in depth domain knowledge and experience.

Rohit Kapoor received his Bachelor’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in 1999, and PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 2003, in Computer Science in the area of Computer Networking. He joined the R&D department of Qualcomm in 2003, first located in San Diego for about 12 years and the last 3 years in Bangalore. During his time in Qualcomm, he has been involved in the design, development, standardization and commercialization of many key technologies that are part of 3G and 4G standards.

Anand M. Baswade is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Bhilai (IITBh), India. He received his PhD in Computer Science and Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad (IITH), India, in 2019. Before joining IITBh, he worked as a Senior Lead Engineer at Samsung R\&D Institute Bangalore, India, between 2019 and 2020, where he was involved in 5G and beyond networking technologies research. His research interests include NR-U/LAA and Wi-Fi coexistence in unlicensed spectrum, Spectrum sharing, and Non-terrestrial Networks.

Shri R. K. Pathak is a Member Secretary, Bharat 6G Alliance, He has done his B.E. Hons. (Electrical) and M Tech (Power Electronics). He has more than 33 years of experience in different disciplines including entrepreneurship, standardization and promotion, development of manufacturing of telecom equipment, and investment promotions. He is the nodal officer for the implementation of 5G technology. He is former Deputy Director General (International Cooperation) in the Department of Telecom and was looking after work related to WTO, economic cooperation agreements, standardization, promotion of telecom exports, and Telecom Centre of Excellences, India (TCOE India). He has additional responsibilities as Secretary, of TEPC, and also Director, of TCOE India.

Adrish Banerjee received his Bachelor's degree from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur and Masters and Ph.D. degree from University of Notre Dame, Indiana. He is currently the Next Generation Broadcasting Chair Professor in the department of Electrical Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. He has been a visiting faculty to National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, Taiwan, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, South Korea and Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok. Under the Erasmus-Mundus program he was a visiting faculty in Politecnico di Torino, Italy. He is a recipient of Microsoft Research India young faculty award, Institute of Engineers India young engineer award, P K Kelkar Research Fellowship, IETE-Prof. K. Sreenivasan Memorial Award, 2016, Next Generation Broadcasting Chair Professorship 2019-2021, 2022-2024. The group led by him were one of the recipients of the Qualcomm Innovation Fellowship 2021. His research interests are in the physical layer aspects of wireless communications, particularly error control coding, molecular communications, machine learning applications to communications, and broadcasting.

Madeleine Noland is the President of the Advanced Television Systems Committee Inc. A 20-year industry veteran who is widely respected for her consensus-building leadership style, she chaired the technology group that oversees the ATSC 3.0 next-generation broadcast standard before being named ATSC President in May 2019. Previously, she chaired various ATSC 3.0-related specialist groups, ad hoc groups and implementation teams since 2012.

Noland began her career in the television industry in 2004 with Backchannelmedia Inc., an interactive television technology developer. It was during her work there that she first became involved in ATSC projects. In 2012, she moved on to product and project management roles at Telvue Corp. before joining LG Electronics CTO’s office in 2013. Noland represented LG in a variety of industry organizations for over six years.

Most recently, Madeleine was awarded the prestigious 2022 David Sarnoff Medal by the Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers (SMPTE) in a ceremony held in Hollywood, California. She has also received TV NewsCheck’s “2019 Futurist” Women in Technology Award and was named one of 2018’s “Powerful Women in Consumer Technology” by Dealerscope magazine. In 2016, while the Chair of TG-3, she received the ATSC’s highest technical honor, the Bernard J. Lechner Outstanding Contributor Award recognizing her leadership related to the development of ATSC 3.0 Next Gen TV.

Credited on three U.S. patents for television technology, Noland is a member of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers – Broadcast Technology Society. Noland graduated cum laude from the University of Massachusetts. She enjoys travel, and she plays keyboards in a band called “Brave Pursuit.”

Keyur Gandhi handles Space Regulation & Policy at Dhruva Space , a full-stack Space engineering solutions provider in Hyderabad, India. He actively engages in Legal, Regulatory, Policy and Commercialisation affairs for the company.

Keyur has a proven record of having worked closely on growth and strategy verticals of enterprises in highly regulated ecosystems.

A law graduate from NMIMS - Mumbai, he served as the Student Director of Chancellor’s Challenge, an initiative to foster an entrepreneurship ecosystem across India, leading up to building of a NITI Aayog-funded incubation center.

Keyur is one of the pioneering Regulatory professionals in the Indian Private Space-Technology ecosystems, engaging in regulatory matters in diverse domains across the satellite industry; which include satellite communications, remote sensing, trade controls, public procurements and other related areas. He is also an active contributor in policy matters pertaining to Space activities.

Experienced Product Manager and Product Visionary with a demonstrated history of working in the financial and wireless industries. Strong product management professional skilled in Wireless Networking, Cloud Applications, IT Strategy, OEM Partnerships, Professional Services, Software as a Service (SaaS), and Pre-sales.

Shri LC Mangal graduated as BE (Hons) in Electrical & Electronics Engg from BITS Pilani (1988) and M.Tech in Communications Signal Processing from IIT Kanpur (1995).

He joined DRDO for one year training at DIAT Pune in Oct 1988 and as Scientist B at DEAL Dehradun in Nov 1989. He started his carrier in Satellite Communication with system engineering for the project 'NARAD' at DEAL He led a team for technology development for baseband systems of secure indigenous Briefcase Satellite Terminals and Satcom Hub for providing secure voice and data satellite communication network for Army, Navy and for Light Intensity Conflict (LIC)/strategic applications.

He developed DSP based ECCM technology for Combat Net Radio for Tank applications with robust frequency hopping crypto synchronization and reliable voice/data communication under hostile environment. 2000 Nos of CNR-AFV radios were productionised by M/S Bharat Electronics, Panchkula in the year 2011.

As technology group director, he led integrated team for development of multiple form factors and networking waveforms of SDRs for Navy, and development of software-defined miniature satellite terminals (Manpack and Handheld) and related Hub baseband system for exploitation of GSAT6 satellite. Two shipborne SDR form factors are under production with M/S Bharat Electronics. The GSAT-6 based satcom network has undergone extensive trials and security evaluation for required operational needs of tri-services and is under the process of operationalisation. The production of portable SDR’s (Manpack and Handheld) for Naval requirements will commence soon with Bharat Electronics.

He has received many prestigious DRDO awards - Agni Award for Excellence in Self Reliance (2005), DRDO Award for Performance Excellence (2006), Agni Award for Excellence in Self-Reliance (2010) and Agni Award for Excellence in Self-Reliance (2018) as team leader for Shipborne SDR.

He was promoted to Outstanding Scientist and Scientist 'H' in 2018 and became Associate Director in 2019. He has been leading technology development and focused activity for software-defined military communication products for last 20 years in various capacities and published many technical papers in journals and conferences. Currently he is focusing on creating a national standard for SDR software to streamline indigenous eco-system for SDR design & development, production and maintenance for Armed forces and homeland security agencies.

He took over as Director DEAL wef 01 March 2022.

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Dhananjay is Vice President of Engineering and Head of Qualcomm Research India. He is responsible for all RnD efforts at the center spanning 3G/4G/5G protocol and modem design, imaging and virtual reality. He oversees the cellular modem and wireless LAN modem systems & HW IP teams at Qualcomm India.

Indian Telecommunication Service Officer of 1992 batch, brings the extensive “field experience” of working in BSNL & BBNL into the policy making. I have also worked in TRAI earlier from 2007 to 2010 and was instrumental in framing the MVNO recommendations. In this stint in DoT since 2017, has been instrumental in initiating progressive steps like providing immense relief to the service providers by doing away with NOCC charges, MPVT testing, enhancing the scope of VSAT providers to provide backhaul, sharing of the satellite – hub for different services offered by an operator. Known for his progressive ideas and zeal for reforms.

Prof. Rohit Prasad his Ph.D. and before joining MDI, Prof. Prasad has worked in senior management positions in the software industry in USA and India. His research interests include the economics of information and communications technology, the markets for distressed debt, and sustainable development.

Amit Gulati is a Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics from the North Maharashtra University and Masters in Business Administration from Faculty of Management Studies. He is an officer from the Indian Radio Regulatory Service and has over 22 years of experience in spectrum management in various domains including Spectrum monitoring. He is currently the Senior Deputy Wireless Advisor in the Satellite Division of the Wireless Planning and Coordination Wing in the Department of Telecommunications, looking after key issues such as policy issues relating to frequency assignment of existing and new satellite networks, and Satellite Network Filing.

"Currently, he is working as a Senior Deputy Wireless Advisor in the WPC Wing. He coordinates on various radio-frequency spectrum issues with stakeholders to frame our country views for International bodies, such as ITU-R, APT etc. He has played an important role in formulating National Frequency Allocation Plan-2018. He was involved in drafting Indian contributions to WRC-19 and has also participated in WRC-19 He also worked in Wireless Monitoring Organization, DoT where he was involved in carrying out monitoring of radio-frequency spectrum.

Viswanathan Ramaswamy, commonly knows as ‘Vishy’, is a telecom industry leader with over 31⁄2 decades of experience in the communications industry. He has a vast knowledge about various networking technologies and the associated IT solutions. He has been a thought leader in the areas of technology convergence and industry application of mobile network technologies. He is currently the Vice President for 5G and Digital Solutions Incubation in Tata Communications. Prior to this he has worked with companies like Wipro, Vodafone India, AT&T and Crompton Greaves Ltd.

D K Agrawal is the Principal General Manager (PGM) at Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL). He has held this role since March 2022. Previously, he was the General Manager at BSNL from February 2014 to March 2022. He has also held the following roles at BSNL

Additional General Manager from June 2009 to February 2014

Deputy General Manager from January 2001 to May 2009

Mrs. Vernita D. Harris is a member of the Senior Executive Service and serves as the Director Electromagnetic Spectrum Enterprise Policy & Programs. In this role, she provides executive leadership, strategic guidance, implementation and direction for management and use of the electromagnetic spectrum, develops and coordinates DoD’s spectrum, Internet, and information and telecommunication policy positions with the Department of State, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Mrs. Harris serves as the focal point for all matters pertaining to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). She leads a team of policy experts that coordinates with other federal agencies, our international partners in support of the Department’s and DoD CIO’s missions, goals and objectives regarding the management and use of the electromagnetic spectrum, Internet and information and telecommunications policy goals.

Mrs. Harris began her Federal career in 1999 with the Department of Commerce, NTIA’s Office of Spectrum Management (OSM) where she provided strong leadership necessary to solve multiple radio frequency spectrum management issues domestically and internationally. In 2007, Mrs. Harris transitioned to the Office of International Affairs (OIA) and subsequently became the Deputy Associate Administrator for overall domestic and international policy strategies affecting Internet policymaking, standards development issues, governance issues, cybersecurity, emerging technologies and the digital economy.

Mrs. Harris has led and served on numerous U.S. Delegations to regional and global intergovernmental organizations, including all major UN ITU treaty-making conferences since 2000. Before joining the U.S. Government, Mrs. Harris worked for Iridium, LLC.

Mrs. Harris has a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration with Minor in Management, from Trinity College, Washington, D.C.

Shri Hanumantha Rayappa, a senior scientist in ISRO. He currently is working as Director, SATCOM Programme Office at ISRO HQ, Bengaluru. He is dealing with frequency management, satcom applications, ground segment, capacity management and satcom planning. His contribution is significant in the planning & realization of Gateways for High Throughput Satellites. He has been a key player in rollout and operations of SatCom networks for societal applications, like Telemedicine, Tele-education, VAST connectivity, Disaster Management, Search & Rescue, etc, which have a greater social relevance. He has contributed for proliferation of NavIC and GAGAN solutions into various applications. He has played an important role in formulating the new policy and guidelines in the Satcom area.

He is a recipient of two Team Excellence Awards of ISRO and IETE – R S Khandpur Gold Medal for tele- education & tele-medicine applications.

I am a telecommunications professional, providing strategic guidance to industry and government executives on spectrum matters and network evolution, based on data-driven quantitative analysis. I have broad experience in wireless network architecture and spectrum requirements. I am currently working on various spectrum issues related to the nascent 6G technology.

I am recognized as a subject matter expert in 5G and associated emerging applications, who closely monitors technology trends in adjacent industries. I am experienced in leading and mentoring global cross-functional teams, spearheading complex projects. I have a proven track record of delivering on revenue, cost, and quality targets.

Currently, I act as a Senior Spectrum Standardization expert in Nokia Bell Labs . I am experienced in launching multiple internal ventures.

I have 25+ years of experience in wireless and broadband technologies, with expertise in:

|Spectrum Requirements | Business Models| Strategic Planning | Business Development| | 5G, IoT, AI/ML | Open RAN, Virtual/Cloud RAN | |FWA| AR/VR, cV2X | SON, Network Slicing| Solution Architecture | | IMS/Mobile Core| MEC, SDN/NFV | xDSL, HFC, FTTx | 3GPP, IEEE, ITU-R

I hold 6 patents, have 20+ papers in refereed journals and made numerous presentations at professional conferences and industry events.

Experienced Wireless & Mobile broadband professional with global exposure, expertise in telecom network strategy, technology, product management, spectrum strategy, ecosystem, service delivery and customer experience.

Mr. Prashant Maru is the Vice President, Sales & Bizdev at Saankhya Labs. He has 26+ years of experience in the field of Telecommunications in leadership roles in various Telecom Vendor Organizations. He worked with Ericsson for 20 years before moving to ZTE & then to Saankhya Labs. He has been in the Sales & Business Development role during the last 14+ years. Over the years, he has gradually evolved from various leadership roles in Engineering R&D, System Integration, T&V, Project/Program Management, and finally in his current role in Sales & Business Development.

He has managed customers across the globe like, AT&T, Cingular Wireless, Rogers, Charter Communications, Sinclair Broadcasting, Telcel, RCOM, RJIO, Vodafone, etc.

His formative years were vested in MIT, Pune, University of Texas @ Dallas and IIM, Ahmedabad.

Sesh Simha graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai. He received the master’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan. He joined ONE Media 3.0 in August 2016, and is currently the Vice President of Advanced Technology. He has experience as a Professional Adviser, an Educator, and a Speaker in the spectrum, television, telecom, software, and wireless and satellite communications industries. He is the Former Senior Product Manager for Spirent Communications, managing video testing for the wireless industry and a product development manager for the international satellite operator, SES, where he oversaw streaming mobile video trials. He served as a Wireless and Telecom Consultant supporting a wireless operator in its 700 MHz LTE build-out planning as well as working with Cogent Communications, Teleglobe, INTELSAT, and Hughes Network Systems.

Dante Ibarra, World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) Director, at Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will speak on the panel World Radiocommunication Conference 2019: The Global Future for Satellites at SATELLITE 2018.

Dante Ibarra is responsible for leading the FCC’s activities and preparatory efforts for the International Telecommunication Union World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC). He leads a FCC team of technical and regulatory experts to develop international spectrum policies and strategies based on U.S. and FCC policies, coordinates with other federal government agencies including the Department of State, National Telecommunications and Information Administration to develop positions for negotiations at international conferences, leads U.S. delegations to international meetings on radio spectrum access and utilization and represents the U.S./CITEL at other WRC regional group preparatory meetings.

Dr Martha Suarez is President of the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance and has over 15 years of experience in the telecommunications industry. In her current role at the DSA she advocates for laws and regulations that will lead to more efficient and effective spectrum utilization, which is essential to addressing key worldwide social and economic challenges. She spent over three years as General Director of the National Spectrum Agency in Colombia, having originally joined the ANE in 2013. Before that, she was awarded with a Marie Curie Fellowship and worked at the Instytut Technologii Elektronowej ITE in Poland for the Partnership for Cognitive Radio Par4CR European Project. Suarez is an electronics engineer, with a master degree in high frequency communication systems and is Doctor in electronics from the University Paris-Est.

Mr.Kumaramohan has 33 years of experience in ISRO. During the first 16 years he had worked in Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad on designing beam shaping antennas for ISRO’s INSAT-3 series of communication satellites and development of software related to verifying antenna performance during antenna design and fabrication stages. For the past 17 years he has been working at ISRO Headquarters in the area of Frequency Management involving coordination of orbit-frequency resources required for ISRO’s communication, navigation, remote sensing and Science missions. He has being contributing towards forming India’s views on WRC agenda Items since WRC-12 and also participates in the ITU-R Working Parties, APG, CPM and WRCs since WRC-12. He holds Master degrees in Mathematics and software systems. Currently he is ‘Associate Director’ in Satcom Programme Office at ISRO Headquarters, Bangalore.

Experienced Director with a demonstrated history of working in the broadcast media industry. Strong engineering professional skilled in Broadcast Engineering, Terrestrial & Satellite Television.

Expertise in Spectrum Management, Frequency Planning, Regulatory matters, ITU studies & procedures etc.

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J Sofi, a scientist in ISRO is currently working as Deputy Director for Frequency Management area in, SATCOM Programme Office at ISRO HQ, Bengaluru. She is responsible for frequency management activities which involves ITU filings and frequency coordination for all ISRO missions, Communication satellites, remote sensing satellites ,space science and inter planetary missions and is involved in satellite planning activities. She has contributed towards preparation of inputs to Working Party and WRC’s towards augmentation of orbit-spectrum resources for ISRO missions. Her contribution has been significant in obtaining the extension of validity period of satellite networks during previous WRC, WRC-19.

Anand Srivastava did his M.Tech. and Ph.D. from IIT Delhi and is currently working in IIIT Delhi as Professor in ECE department since Nov. 2014 and also Director in IIIT Delhi Incubation Center. I am also Adjunct faculty in Bharti School of Telecom Technology at IIT Delhi. Before joining IIIT Delhi, I was Dean & Professor in School of Computing and Electrical Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology Mandi, HP, India from Jan. 2012 to Nov. 2014. Prior to this, I was with Alcatel-Lucent-Bell Labs, India as solution architect for access and core networks for 2.5 years. My initial stint (∼ 20 years) was with Center for Development of Telematics (CDOT), a telecom research center of Govt. of India where I was Director and member of CDOT Board. During my stay in CDOT, I provided technical leadership and motivation to team of engineers engaged in the development of national level projects in the areas of Telecom Security Systems, Network Management System, Intelligent Networks, Operations Support Systems, Access Networks (GPON) and Optical Technology based products. Majority of these projects were completed successfully and commercially deployed in the public telecom network. I also carried out significant research work in the Photonics Research Lab, Nice, France, under the Indo-French Science & Technology Cooperation Program on “Special optical fibers and fiber-based components for optical communications” during 2007-2010 in different phases. I was also closely involved with ITU-T, Geneva in Study Group 15 and represented India for various optical networking standards meetings. Currently, I am driving VLC/LiFi standardization activities under the aegis of TSDSI. My research work is in the area of optical core & access networks, Vehicle-to-vehicle communications, Fiber-Wireless (FiWi) architectures, and Visible light communications.

Prof. K.J. Vinoy is a Professor of Electrical Communication Engineering (ECE) at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru. He received the B.Tech. degree from the University of Kerala, the M.Tech. degree from Cochin University of Science and Technology, Cochin, and the Ph.D. degree from the Pennsylvania State University, University Park, USA. He worked in various positions at the National Aerospace Laboratories, Bangalore, India (1994-98), and the Pennsylvania State University (1999 to 2002). Since 2003, he has been with the ECE Department, IISc, and took up several additional roles at IISc, including as the Chair of the ECE Department (2020-23).

As part of a recent project on indigenous 5G testbed development activity, he has demonstrated a beam steering antenna array at 26GHz band for the Indian requirements. He led a top-ranked team at the Phase II of a National 5G Hackathon (2020-22) organized by the Department of Telecommunication in India. Earlier, he championed the establishment of the Indian Nanoelectronics Users Program (funded by MIETY) to develop userbase nanoelectronics facilities, organized many workshops, and coordinated visits of users to IISc. As the Principal Investigator and national-level coordinator of a government-funded National MEMS Design Centre Network program, around 70 design centres were established in different parts of India.

His research interests include microwave and millimeter wave antennas, radio frequency circuits and sensing systems, microwave materials, and computational electromagnetics. His doctoral research on fractal shaped antennas is widely cited. He has published over 200 papers in technical journals and conferences proceedings. He has authored five books; filed three Indian patents; one granted in India and two others in the USA. He is in the editorial boards of professional journals and is a Series Editor of a Springer Briefs book series on Computational Electromagnetics. He was awarded Ulrich L. Rohde Innovative conference Paper Award on Computational Electromagnetics in 2015. He was elected as a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering in 2011.

Dr K Rajalakshmi Menon, Distinguished Scientist has been appointed as Director CABS on 31 Dec 2021.

Dr K Rajalakshmi Menon joined DRDO as Scientist B at Aerospace Surveillance Warning and Control (ASWAC), erstwhile Centre for Airborne Systems (CABS) in 1988 after her MSc in Computer Science from University of Poona. She further obtained her Masters in Engineering in the area of Clutter Characterisation from Airborne Platformand a PhD in the area of Target Recognition from Department of Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Science.

She has made significant contributions in design and development of Airborne Surveillance Systems. Her area of expertise includes System Engineering of Complex Systems, Command, Control, Communications,Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR), Image Intelligence, Guidance and Control, Battle Management, System Design and System Analysis of Airborne Radars and EW sensors.

As Team Leader for the Clutter Characterisation Project, she was instrumental in integration and flight testing of a radar on an aircraft for the first time in the country. During initial stages of her illustrious career, her contributions have been in the field of Airborne Radar Performance Analysis,design of Ultra-Wideband Radars andSystem design and Simulation, System Test and Integration for the Airborne Surveillance Platform (ASP) Project and in Management Information System (MIS) as Project manager.

She has played a pivotal role in the design, development, integration, testing and delivery of indigenous Airborne Early Warning & Control System (AEW&C). In the AEW&C Program, she took up many leadership roles; as Deputy Project Director and Project Director for System Engineering (SE), System Test and Integration Rig (STIR) andGround Exploitation System (GES)and design & development of Command and Control (C2) functions, viz., Threat Evaluation, Weapon Assignment, Intercept Controland Guidance for Battle Management to enable Network Centric Operations of AEW&C. The C2 functionalities meeting the IAF tactics has been developed for the first time in the country. She has been pioneer in evolving the platform requirements for the AEW&C role and managing the interfaces for the complex system of systems program and leading the aircraft integration, operation and maintenance activities. As, coordinator for indigenous datalinks development, she has successfully demonstrated the communication capability between AEW&C and Ground Exploitation System meeting the operational role.

She rose to the post of Associate Programme Director (AEW&C) in 2015 and led the System Engineering, Mission System Integration and Flight Testing, which culminated into induction of AEW&C system into IAF, in Initial Operational Capability (IOC) configuration in Feb 2017. She led all the flight test campaigns of AEW&C from 2013 to 2017. As System Engineer of AEW&C, she applied the principles successfully from concept to delivery, resulting in India becoming the fifth country in the world to have an indigenous AEW&C system.

After the successful induction of AEW&C in IOC configuration, she led the design and development of Imaging Radars for UAVs, Fighters, Satellites and manned platforms during her brief tenure at LRDE, Bangalore from Jul 2017 to Jan 2019, wherein introduced novel technologies for developing very high resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar(SAR). She was also the Associate Director at LRDE.

Subsequently, as Associate Director, CABS, she led various projects and programs on Air to Ground Surveillance, specifically towards developing the technologies for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR). She has been the Project Director for ISR Project and Program Director-Designate for Intelligence, Surveillance, Targeting and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) Program for IAF and for a similar program for NTRO. In these projects she has guided the teams towards design and development of IMINT analysis for defence using AI/ML/DL technologies.

She has published several scientific papers in National and International Journals, Seminars & Conferences.

She is member of Institute of Council of System Engineers (INCOSE), Senior Member IEEE and Chairperson, IEEE AESS, Bangalore Chapter, Fellow of IETE and Life Member of Aeronautical Society of India(AeSI).

She isa recipient of Laboratory Scientist of the year Award in 2006, Technology Group Award in 2008 for Mission System Controller Development, DRDO Award for Path Breaking Research for developing critical technologies for AEW&C in 2012, DRDO Scientist of the year Award in 2015 andDRDO Technology Group Award for the design and development of Intercept Control and Battle Management System for AEW&C in 2018.

She is also a recipient ofOutstanding Women Scientist/Technologist/ Engineer Award for2018 from Aeronautical Society of India and Distinguished Alumni Award for 2019 from the prestigious Indian Institute of Science.She is one of the 51 Women Achievers in STEM, all over India and is profiled in e-book launched by Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) in 2021.

Vijay Kumar Roy is a seasoned telecommunications expert serving as the Deputy Director General (Standards-R&D-Innovation) in the Department of Telecommunications, Government of India. He holds a B.Tech. in Electronics Engineering from REC (NIT), Calicut, Kerala, and an MBA with dual specialization in International Business and Finance.

In his illustrious career, Mr. Roy has played pivotal roles in shaping India's telecom sector. Notably, he led the Indian delegation in standardization activities, securing India's place in global 6G development. He also contributed significantly to the drafting of the "Bharat 6G vision document" and a key figure in iCET, fostering international collaboration on critical technologies. He has received many awards for his significant contributions in Telecom sector.

Mr. Roy's contributions extend to leadership roles in ITU-T Study Group 2, where he serves as Vice Chairman and Associate Rapporteur. He has been instrumental in formulating various 5G and 4G standards and test schedules in India, actively participating in international meetings.

As an ITU Expert, he made significant contributions to Bhutan's telecommunications development, including SOP development, capacity building, and EMF compliance testing. His dedication to advancing telecommunications standards and technology has been recognized and appreciated by ITU.

In summary, Vijay Kumar Roy is a highly accomplished professional who has made substantial contributions to India's telecom sector, especially in the areas of standardization, international collaboration, and technology advancement.

Technically sophisticated and business-savvy management leader with a pioneering career spanning 31 years, reflecting strong leadership qualifications and with “hands-on” expertise in Telecom, Information Technology (IT), Defence and Broadcasting sectors. Maintains focus on achieving strategic objectives while formulating and implementing advanced technology and business solutions to meet a wide range of needs. Superior record of delivering simultaneous large-scale projects on time. Team based democratic management style and excellent interpersonal and communication skills. Published technical and academic articles in Magazines and Journals. Alumnus of IIT Roorkee and IIM Bangalore.

Winner of J. C. Bose award (1987) by Ministry of Defence, National e-Governance award (2007) by Government of India , CIO 100 award ( 2007) , by International Data Group (IDG), Deepak C. Jain Award ( 2009) by IIM Bangalore.

Neeraj Dindore is a telecom professional with over 3 decades of experience in the telecommunications industry. He has vast experience and knowledge about various mobile wireless & fixed network technologies and the associated IT solutions. He has been active in the areas of end-to-end life cycle management of Telecom Networks from Strategy, Engineering & Planning, Deployment, Operations, Performance and Customer Experience Management across Mobile & Fixed Networks in India. He is currently the Vice President for 5G Private Networks Engineering, Development & Services in Tata Communications. Prior to this he has worked with companies like TATA Teleservices Ltd as Group CTO, BPL Mobile as Head of Network Planning & Engineering, Indian Air Force in RADAR & Telecommunications. He is also one of the founding and Governing Council members of TSDSI.

Cristian leads the APAC regional engagement with governments on policy and regulatory matters as part of the Viasat team. He has over 20 years of experience in wireless policy and spectrum regulation.

Prior to joining Viasat, Cristian held senior policy and regulatory roles within the ITU Radiocommunication Bureau, the mobile industry and the New Zealand spectrum regulator. He has represented New Zealand at WRCs and Asia Pacific regional forums including APT.

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Mr. V. Raghunandan is an Indian Telecommunication Service Officer belonging to 1987 Batch. He is presently working as Secretary, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) at New Delhi and is coordinating all the activities related to Telecom & Broadcasting sectors.

He obtained M.Tech from S.V.University, Tirupati, India. He has a vast experience of 28 years in various capacities in the field of Telecommunications. He was responsible for major Telecom Project executions, telecom policy implementation and Telecom Enforcement in various parts of India. He was bestowed with Visishta Sanchar Seva Padak Award in Dept of Telecom (DOT) for Meritorious services rendered in various remote rural areas for telecom development.

In 2006-2007, he graduated MPA from Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKY SPP is one of the top few Public Policy Schools in the world), NUS Singapore.

Earlier, as DDG (International Relations) at DoT (Hq), he coordinated all activities related to Multilateral and Bilateral of High Level Dignitaries in DoT, Ministry of Communications, Govt of India and was responsible for key initiatives related to Establishment of ITU Area office & Innovation Centre in India. He also played key role in effectively presenting India's position on Cyber security related matters to ITU resulting in India reaching Top 10 Rankings in Global Cyber Security Index during 2020. He organized many International and Regional events in India and abroad. He has represented India as Speaker at ITU, BRICS, Commonwealth Telecom Organization (CTO), APT and other Multilateral organizations/International Forums.

Dr. Venkatesh Ramaswamy is Chief Technologist for NextG at MITRE Labs in Bedford, Massachusetts where he currently leads technical innovation and R&D activities in 5G/xG technologies. He has more than 20 years of experience in the telecommunications industry and has held technical leadership positions at top technology companies, startups, and research labs. Currently he serves as one of the active industry members of the ATIS/Next G Alliance Research Council (Next G Alliance Research Council – Next G Alliance) working on the development of a comprehensive North American 6G strategy. He also an industry researcher at the NSF Edge AI Institute looking at synergies between networking and AI (Organization and Key Personnel | NSF AI Institute for Future Edge Networks and Distributed Intelligence (osu.edu)). He has published more than 50 peer-reviewed publications and patents, served as a TPC member for various conferences, and participated in several technical panels. He received his PhD in Electrical Engineering in 2007.

Bashir Patel is Inmarsat’s Regional Advisor for the South Asia, Middle East and Africa (SAMEA) region. He is widely recognized as a highly experienced executive in ICT, satellite systems and defence aerospace. He has over 35 years experience in the high tech industry, working mainly in the telecom sector including satellites and defence industries, both in management consulting as well as in regional regulatory policy, business and market development. He has been working with the Governments throughout the regions and launched satellite communications technologies as far back as mid 1980’s. He is a passionate technologist with experience gained from his time spent in advance aerospace projects in BAe Systems, Inmarsat, ICO Global Communications and prior to re-joining Inmarsat in 2013 as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO), dealing with 54 Commonwealth Governments around the world.

Dr. P.D. Vaghela joined as Chairman, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on 1st October, 2020. Prior to joining TRAI, Dr.Vaghela was Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers. Dr.Vaghela had graduated in Commerce in the year 1982. He did his M.B.A (Master of Business Administration) with specialization in Financial Management in 1984 and also obtained M.A in Development Studies (Public Policy & Management) from the Institute of Social Studies, the Hague in the Netherlands in the year 2005. He was decorated with a Doctorate in the year 2013 in Public Management and Policy by Sardar Patel University, Anand, Gujarat.

He joined Indian Administrative Service [IAS] in 1986. He has held various assignments starting from District level to State level, during which he had won a number of awards for excellence as best Collector & District Magistrate 86 District Development Officer. In his assignment as Chairman, Kandla Port (2008-2013), the port was awarded as the best port for five years of his tenure. He worked as Chief Commissioner of Sales Tax, in Gujarat, during which period he has played a major role in drafting GST law, its rules and fixing GST rates of goods and services as Convener of national level GST Law and GST Fitment Committees. He was closely involved in the GST implementation at national level as a key member of GST Implementation Committee.

As Secretary Pharmaceuticals, he has launched four ambitious schemes to transform the sector. He also worked as Convenor of Empowered Group 3 (now EG2) which handled availability of critical medical supplies like PPE, N-95, Ventilators and testing kits. Today India is exporting these items for which India was otherwise dependent on imports during pre-covid time. In May, 2018 Dr. Vaghela was honoured by Hon'ble Prime Minister of India for excellence in Public Administration while appreciating his contribution in implementation of GST in India.

Mohaned Juwad is responsible for assisting Intelsat’s strategic long-term spectrum position in the marketplace. In his role, he works closely with the company’s vice president on corporate and spectrum strategy and the spectrum strategy team to analyze and identify emerging spectrum opportunities and risks for Intelsat. In addition, he is responsible for managing efforts from Europe, Middle East and Africa that protect, optimize and leverage the company’s spectrum assets in support of Intelsat’s broader long-term growth strategy.

Dr Juwad has over 10 years’ experience within the satellite industry where he held various roles in the past. Prior to rejoining Intelsat in 2016, Dr Juwad served as manager, regulatory licensing and market access, at Avanti Communications Group Plc where he was responsible for managing and acquiring licensing and authorization for Ka-band geostationary satellite services across Europe, Middle East and the Africa region, in addition to overseeing regulatory activities at the ITU, CEPT, and other regulatory bodies. Before that, he worked as a consultant where he worked in ESA funded projects to develop the DVB-S2 standard operating in Ka-band, and also developed Ka-band mortised terminals where he was instrumental in developing a commercial self-aligned antenna.

Dr Juwad earned a Philosophy of Doctorate (PhD) from Isambard Kingdom Brunel University and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering at Herefordshire University.

Intelsat S.A. (NYSE: I) is the world’s leading provider of satellite services, delivering high-performance connectivity solutions for media, fixed and mobile broadband infrastructure, enterprise and government and military applications for more than 50 years. Intelsat’s satellite, teleport and fibre infrastructure is unmatched in the industry, setting the standard for transmissions of video and broadband services. From the globalization of content and the proliferation of HD, to the expansion of cellular networks and mobile broadband access, with Intelsat, envision your future network, connect using our leading satellite technology.

Isabelle Mauro is Director General of the Global Satellite Operators Association (GSOA) that represents the interests of 29 global and regional satellite operators. She reports directly to their Chief Executives.

Under Isabelle’s leadership, GSOA and its member CEOs lead the effort to showcase the benefits of satellite communications for a more inclusive and secure society – vital to bridging the world’s digital divide, achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and realizing the 5G ecosystem.

Isabelle has 25 years experience in the Telecoms and Technology sector, starting at the GSMA, where she was responsible for government and international Affairs. In 2015 she moved to New York to join the World Economic Forum as Head of Information, Communications and Technology Industries, managing the portfolio for 60+ Tech companies globally and leading initiatives on inclusive and sustainable digital transformation.

Isabelle is passionate about inclusion and sustainability. She is Chair of the High-Level Advisory Board of the DigitalGoesGreen Foundation. She also sits on the Advisory Board of Women in Tech and is a member of the UNESCO Advisory Group for the Declaration on Connectivity for Education.

Isabelle holds an MSc in European Politics and Policy from the London School of Economics. She is fluent in French, English, Italian and Spanish.

Yishen Chan is Director, Spectrum (APAC), at the GSMA. He is responsible for the GSMA’s efforts to support its members in the Asia Pacific region on policy and regulatory matters relating to radio spectrum and its management.

Yishen has over 15 years’ experience in policy and regulatory issues in the telecommunications, media and technology sector. Prior to joining the GSMA, Yishen was a director at Plum Consulting where he specialised in spectrum management issues, such as allocation, valuation and pricing of spectrum for mobile and other uses, cost benefit analyses and impact assessments of policies and regulations relating to mobile and other wireless technologies. He has led numerous consultancy projects for governments, regulators and industry players around the world, including Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and the UK.

His previous experience also includes roles within regulatory authorities in Singapore and the UK. Yishen has an MSc in Media and Communication Governance (Distinction) from the London School of Economics, and a BA in Economics and Philosophy from the National University of Singapore.

Mr. Vinay Shrivastava is General Manager (Telecom Standards) at Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. He holds an M.Tech. in Telecommunication Systems from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee.
Vinay is actively engaged in standardization efforts of national interest at ITU-R, 3GPP, and TSDSI, His notable contributions include leading and contributing crucial spectrum studies towards WRC23 agenda item on behalf of Indian Telecom service providers at ITU-R WP5D1. Vinay's contributions to the standards are many, including spearheading the NAVIC A-GNSS standardization2 work at 3GPP and TSDSI 6G contribution3 to the ITU-R draft report on Future Technology trends towards IMT2030 & Beyond.
With over two decades of experience in the telecom industry, Vinay has rich experience of physical layer modeling, simulation, and implementation for multiple generations of cellular modems while working with a range of multinational corporations.
Vinay's current interests revolve around next-generation technologies, such as non- terrestrial networks, 6G waveform design, and spectrum sharing and coexistence studies. He is part of crucial national spectrum discussion committees.

Peng is heading the APAC Government Affairs team in OneWeb. He is an experienced telecom public policy executive, with focus on licensing and spectrum policy for both mobile and satellite industries, advising governments and telecom industry globally.Before joining OneWeb, Peng was responsible for the GSMA's global campaign ensuring optimal licensing conditions for mobile operators. He was leading a team of policy experts across Africa, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Middle-East to engage policy makers and regulators, and advocated for industry's best practices on telecom policy.He recently obtained an Executive MBA at London Business School. He has an engineering background, and hold an MS in Telecommunication Systems from Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne. Besides English, he speaks French and Mandarin fluently.

Mr. Meghwal is Bachelor of Engineering (BE) in Electronics and Communications in 1996 with 66% marks from M. B. M. Engineering College, Jai Narayan Vyas, University, Jodhpur, Rajasthan.

Master of Engineering (ME) in Digital Communications in 1998 with 70% marks (Thesis Pending) from M. B. M. Engineering College, Jai Narayan Vyas, University, Jodhpur, Rajasthan.

Heading SACFA division in WPC Wing which is a Standing Advisory Committee on Frequency Allocation to different commercial and non-commercial usages.

Heading ASMS division in WPC Wing having automated spectrum management system (ASMS) and technical analysis involved in efficient spectrum management. ASMS also maintains National Frequency Register (NFR) for all frequency assignments in terrestrial geography.

Year Sept., 2015 – April, 2020

Position held: Deputy Wireless Adviser to the Govt. of India, WPC Wing, Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications.

Year November 2011 – Sept, 2015

Position held: Engineer-in-Charge/Assistant Wireless Adviser to the Govt. of India, WPC Wing, Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications.

July, 1999 – November, 2011

Position held: Engineer, WPC Wing, Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications, Government of India.

November, 1998 – July, 1999

Position held: Inspector(Wireless), Rajasthan Police Government of Rajasthan.

Participated in International level meetings/ Trainings/ seminars/ Conferences.

She has global responsibility for licensing and authorisations and participates in related ITU-R work. She has a PhD in Electronic Engineering from the Polytechnic of Turin (Italy) and many years of experience working in the industry and academic/research world. Her experience covers satellite/terrestrial telecommunication systems and spectrum management and engineering. She is the author of several research papers in the area of radio propagation and she has worked for Inmarsat, British Telecom, NASA and Polytechnic of Turin.

Monisha Ghosh is a Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Notre Dame and a member of the Notre Dame Wireless Institute. She is also the Policy Outreach Director for SpectrumX, the first NSF Center for Spectrum Innovation and the co-chair of the FCC’s Technological Advisory Council (TAC) Working Group on Advanced Spectrum Sharing. Her research interests are in the development of next generation wireless systems: cellular, Wi-Fi and IoT, with an emphasis on spectrum sharing and coexistence and applications of machine learning to improve network performance. Prior to joining the University of Notre Dame in 2022, she was the Chief Technology Officer at the Federal Communications Commission, a Program Director at the National Science Foundation, Research Professor at the University of Chicago and spent 24 years in industry research at Bell Labs, Philips Research and Interdigital working on a wide variety of wireless systems: HDTV, Wi-Fi, TV White Spaces and cellular. She obtained her B.Tech from IIT Kharagpur in 1986 and Ph.D. from USC in 1991. She is a Fellow of the IEEE.

Dr. Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava took office as Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on 1 January 2023.

With more than 30 years in telecommunications, including over 20 years in ITU's Development Sector, Dr Zavazava has promoted and implemented impactful information and communication technology projects around the world.

Prior to his election as BDT Director, he served as ITU's Chief of Partnerships for Digital Development, overseeing development-related projects, strategic partnerships, and resource mobilization between 2019 and 2022, while launching new initiatives that have boosted the engagement of industry, private-sector, and academia members in ITU's work.

From 2010 until 2019, he was Chief of the Projects and Knowledge Management, responsible for ITU's project portfolio, statistics, capacity building, and emergency telecommunications activities, as well as coordinating special assistance to least developed countries (LDCs), landlocked developing countries (LLDCs), and small island developing states (SIDS).

Previously, as ITU's Chief of Projects and Initiatives, he oversaw development projects focused on gender, youth, and people with special needs, along with capacity building, emergency telecommunications, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and e-waste management.

Earlier, Dr Zavazava headed the Republic of Zimbabwe's Government Telecommunications Agency and served as a senior diplomat. He also taught MBA classes at the UK's Nottingham Trent University. Throughout his career, he has focused on closing the digital and skills divide and accelerating digital transformation to achieve socio-economic development for all.

Dr Zavazava holds a PhD in Multilateral Trade from Business School Lausanne (Switzerland), and a Master of Laws degree in Telecommunications and Information Technology from the University of Strathclyde (UK), as well as a Master's in International Relations from Webster University (US), and an MBA from the University of Zimbabwe. He also holds a Bachelor's in Business Administration and diplomas in Telecommunications and Systems Engineering

Since February 2017, Ms. Pamela Kumar has been appointed as the Director General of TSDSI. An alumnus of PEC Chandigarh, Rutgers University and IIM Bangalore, Pamela brings with her an experience of 35+ years in the communications, computers and semiconductor industry.

TSDSI is involved in mobilising the technical experts in the country to develop standards based on National Priorities & requirements and influencing Global Standards, particularly at ITU, 3GPP and other forums. A major accomplishment has been the incorporation of Indian requirements and innovation for Rural Broadband in the 5G standards. CCICI published a Framework & Roadmap for Cloud Computing Adoption in India and provided technical consultation on various aspects of the Cloud Computing Strategy for India. CCICI also formed the IoT for Smart Cities Task Force which published a series of reports related to ICT deployments in Smart Cities.

Prior to TSDSI, she has spent the first 10 years of her career at AT&T, Bell Labs in USA and at C-DOT in Bangalore. Later, she held leadership positions in Texas Instruments, IBM, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, R&D labs in India. She also did a short stint with 2 startups, setting up the R&D centers of Network Programs and Alliance Semiconductors. She holds 3 Patents granted by USPTO and has 5 patent applications pending in the Networking Accelerators domain. She has been instrumental in creating new businesses of upto $ 2.5 Billion. She has been a Keynote/ invited speaker in 100+ Local and Global forums.

Pamela is the Founding Chair and former President of Cloud Computing Innovation Council of India (CCICI). She is the Bharti Chair for IT Research, UIET, Panjab University. She also mentors a few Startups in the ICT space. She is on the Governing Board of ESDS. She has been on the Governing Board of Indian Financial Technologies and Allied Services (IFTAS) and PEC University of Technology. She was the Vice Chair of 3GPP.

Pamela was the first ever appointee from India in the IEEE Standards Association - Board of Governors, as the Member at large for 2011-12. She served on the IEEE Charles Steinmetz Awards Committee for 7 years and has now been appointed to the IEEE_SA Nominations and Appointments Committee. She has held several other leadership roles as a senior member of IEEE - such as General Chair of IEEE ANTS Conference & IEEE 5G World Forum, Coordinator for IEEE Region 10 Industry Relations, Chair for IEEE Computer Society Chapter & Vice Chair of IEEE Bangalore section, etc.

Charles Cooper is Director of NTIA’s Office of Spectrum Management. He leads the agency’s work on national and international spectrum policy issues, and oversees spectrum management efforts for federal agencies. He is responsible for frequency assignment and certification, and other strategic planning functions. Before joining NTIA in 2019, Cooper was the Enforcement Bureau Field Director at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) where he managed the nationwide enforcement of spectrum interference affecting public safety communications, FCC licensees and Federal agencies. Prior to serving as Field Director, Cooper was District Director of the FCC’s Los Angeles Field Office. Cooper is both an electrical engineer (B.S.E.E.) and a registered professional engineer (P.E.).

Jennifer A. Manner is Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs at EchoStar Corporation where she is responsible for leading the domestic and international regulatory and government affairs team; developing and implementing domestic and international regulatory and legislative strategy and campaigns including on technology, spectrum, licensing, trade, broadband, standards, 5G, 6G and cyber security; managing company-wide global spectrum assets; representing the company before a range of international organizations including the ITU, the World Trade Organization and the UN; developing long-term company strategy for spectrum-rights including for ITU rights and licensing; managing the company-wide standards strategy, including at 3GPP; representing the company before senior level government officials domestically and internationally; advising corporate strategy team on possible opportunities; leading the company’s efforts at trade associations; providing briefings to Board Members and Senior Management; and working with press team on company messaging.

Prior to this, Ms. Manner held senior positions at the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, including as Deputy Chief of the Public Safety Bureau and the Office of Engineering and Technology and Senior Advisory to Commissioner Abnernathy and leading companies.

Ms. Manner has published several books on telecommunications issues including on spectrum and foreign market access, as well as scholarly articles. Her most recent book is Spectrum Wars: The Rise of 5G and Beyond (Artech House, 2021). Ms. Manner holds key leadership roles in the ITU-R sector, and trade associations. Ms. Manner is currently the chair of the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Group, Vice Chair of the International Trade Advisory Group, Group 8 (digital goods), Chair of the Precision Agriculture Task Force, Deployment Working Group, Chair of Sub-working group 2 in ITU-R WP4C and CITEL (Americas) Co-Chair for the ITU-R WRC 2023 Network of Women Initiative. Ms. Manner also serves on the FCC’s Technology Advisory Committee and Cyber Security Interoperability, Reliability and Security Advisory Committee. Ms. Manner also serves on the Bermuda Space Council among other bodies. Ms. Manner is also an award-winning documentary film producer.

Josep Miquel Jornet is a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, the director of the Ultrabroadband Nanonetworking (UN) Laboratory, and the Associate Director of the Institute for the Wireless Internet of Things at Northeastern University (NU). He received a Degree in Telecommunication Engineering and a Master of Science in Information and Communication Technologies from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain, in 2008. He received a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, in August 2013. He has co-authored more than 220 peer-reviewed scientific publications in these areas, including one book and five US patents. His work has received over 15,000 citations (h-index of 56 as of August 2023). He is serving as the lead PI on multiple grants from U.S. federal agencies, including the National Science Foundation, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the Air Force Research Laboratory, and industry. He is the recipient of multiple awards, including the 2017 IEEE ComSoc Young Professional Best Innovation Award, the 2017 ACM NanoCom Outstanding Milestone Award, the NSF CAREER Award in 2019, the 2022 IEEE ComSoc RCC Early Achievement Award, and the 2022 IEEE Wireless Communications Technical Committee Outstanding Young Researcher Award, among others, as well as four best paper awards. He is a senior member of the IEEE and an IEEE ComSoc Distinguished Lecturer (Class of 2022-2023). He is also the Editor in Chief of the Elsevier Nano Communication Networks journal and Editor for IEEE Transactions on Communications.

Ranjan K. Mallik is an Institute Chair Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi. He received the B.Tech. degree from IIT Kanpur and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, all in electrical engineering. He has worked as a scientist in the Defence Electronics Research Laboratory, Hyderabad, India, and as a faculty member in IIT Kharagpur and IIT Guwahati. His research interests are in diversity combining and channel modeling for wireless communications, space-time systems, cooperative communications, multiple-access systems, power line communications, molecular communications, difference equations, and linear algebra. He is a recipient of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, the Hari Om Ashram Prerit Dr. Vikram Sarabhai Research Award, the Khosla National Award, the IEI-IEEE Award for Engineering Excellence, and the J. C. Bose Fellowship. He is a member of Eta Kappa Nu, and a fellow of IEEE; the Indian National Academies INAE, INSA, NASI, and IASc; TWAS; IET (U.K.); IETE (India); The Institution of Engineers (India); and the Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association. He served as an Area Editor and an Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, and as an Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Communications. He was a TPC Co-Chair for the Wireless Communications Symposium of IEEE GLOBECOM 2008 and IEEE ICC 2010, a TPC Co-Chair for the PHY Track of IEEE WCNC 2013, and a TPC Co-Chair for the Communication Theory Symposium of IEEE ICC 2021.

He is presently working as Senior Deputy Wireless Advisor in the Satellite Division of Wireless Planning and Coordination Wing in the Department of Telecommunication, Government of India. He has 25 years of experience in spectrum management and has worked in almost every domain of Spectrum Management including wireless monitoring. He is a Graduate Engineer in Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering and also holds a Post-Graduate Diploma in Public Policy Management. He has relentlessly worked to bring Government closer to the people. Mr. Pattanaik was instrumental in leading a team to develop the necessary spectrum planning and Pan-India frequency deployment plan for private FM Broadcast expansion in 2015. Currently, Mr. Pattanaik is the Co-Chair of APG-23 Study Group 4 on Satellite Related issues, and vice chair of ITU Study Group 3.

Dr. Hanumantha Rao Director General, SAMEER (MeitY/Govt.of India), received his PhD from The Queen’s university, Belfast, UK, M.S. from BITS, Pilani and B.Tech. from SV University, India. He has more than 35 years of experience in Research and Development in RF, microwaves and mm-wave technologies for strategic and civilian sectors.
He has been working in SAMEER for the past 33 years after a brief stay at Space Applications Centre SAC (ISRO), Ahmedabad. As a scientist, in the initial part of his career and later as a senior member of the organisation, he has been actively involved in the implementation of various future driven next generation technologies for both strategic and societal applications for DRDO, MeitY and DoT. He has been part of multi-institute collaborative research towards the development of Indigenous 5G solutions. He was part of 5G team and, demonstrated a fully functional MIMO and Massive MIMO systems at sub 6-GHz band, and integrated mm-wave Tiled Phased array antennas. He was instrumental in building indigenous technologies, R&D facilities and executed various strategic projects to address the denied technologies to India. He actively participates in developing Indian standards for 5G and represented India at ITU global meetings. He contributed towards SoC, SoP and implemented Electromagnetic Band Gaps (EBG) and Metamaterial configurations in collaboration with Georgia Tech, Atlanta, USA.
As a member of high-level committees at national level in driving the technology programs for India, he facilitated collaborative research between SAMEER-Academia and industry, both at national and international levels. He actively contributes in capacity building in terms of lectures, workshops and symposia and mentored number of scientific teams at various levels. He created SAMEER-Academia interaction with various premier IITs, NITs and industry.
Most of his work has been published in highly referred journals. Some of his publications are the most referred / popular articles for a long period in IEEE. He has more than 120 publications in IEEE/IEE/John Wiley and referred journals and conferences. His current research areas include 6G solutions, intelligent reflecting surfaces, UAV detection and deactivation, Spectrum studies and RF SoC and Tiled Phased arrays systems.

Awards & Recognitions

• His paper “A multiband, multi polarization shared aperture antennas: Design and simulation” was IEEE Most popular paper: IEEE-AP magazine August 2017, and Popular paper Sept 2017-March2018.
• Awarded IEEE Best paper @ International Conference IEEE INCEMIC-2008
• Member 5G Implementation and Review group (MeitY).
• Member Technology Innovation Group (TIG) for 6G (DoT)
• IEEE Distinguished Lecturer (DL) /Speaker for Asia Pacific Region 2015 and 2016 (IEEE-AP-S)
• Senior Member IEEE and Life Member SEMCEI and Member TSDSi and Founding co-chair IEEE-AP-S society (India)
• Visiting scientist at Georgia Tech USA 1992 and 2017.
• UNDP Fellow 1992.
• British Commonwealth fellow 1999-2002.

Alexander Kühn is the Head of Section on International and National Spectrum management at the German regulatory authority - BNetzA. The Section is responsible for spectrum strategy in the European Union and the authorization for experimental spectrum use. He is based in Bonn, Germany. Alexander has over 15 years of professional experience in national and international spectrum regulation. Since 2004, his activities focused on international spectrum aspects, in particular participating in CEPT and ITU-R meetings. He chaired the WRC preparation of CEPT from 2013 to 2019 and is currently a Vice-Chairman of the ITU conference preparatory meeting to WRC-23 (CPM). His career started in 2002 in the German NRA in the area of electronic signatures and the governance of relevant service providers. He holds second level degree in law.

Shri. Gulab Chand holds Bachelor of Engineering (BE) degree in Electronics & Communications from NIT, Durgapur, joined IRRS service, as a Group-A officer 1992-batch in the WPC wing of Department of Telecommunication. Presently, Shri Gulab Chand is working as a Joint Wireless Advisor in the WPC wing. He has more than 30 years of experience in spectrum management. Shri Gulab Chand has a fair understanding of the field of radio-spectrum management/regulations, as worked in the RF spectrum monitoring for 5 years. He participated in various ITU-R meetings held time to time on behalf of Indian Administration. He played a major role in various spectrum auctions in India since 2015.

Shri. Gulab Chand is a highly experienced officer in the telecommunications sector and well known for his expertise in policy formulation, regulatory, licensing and spectrum auction work.

Dr. Rajeev Shorey received his Ph.D. and M.S. (Engg) in Electrical Communication Engineering from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, India in 1996 and 1991 respectively. He received his B.E degree in Computer Science and Engineering from IISc, Bangalore in 1987.

Rajeev’s career spans several reputed industrial research labs and academic institutions in India and the USA. He was the former CEO of the University of Queensland – IIT Delhi Academy of Research (UQIDAR) at IIT Delhi (2020 – 2023). He served as the first President of NIIT University (2009 – 2013). His career in the industrial research labs of multinational companies includes TCS Research & Innovation, General Motors (GM) India Science Laboratory, IBM India Research Laboratory and SASKEN Technologies. Rajeev serves as an Adjunct Professor in the Computer Science & Engineering department at IIT Delhi. He is an Honorary Professor at the University of Queensland, Australia, SRM University, Andhra Pradesh and LNMIIT, Jaipur.

Rajeev’s work has resulted in more than 75 publications in international journals and conferences and several US patents, all in the area of wireless and wired networks. He has 13 issued US patents and several pending US patents to his credit. Dr. Shorey serves on the editorial board of the IEEE Internet of Things Journal and Springer’s Journal of Wireless Networks. His areas of interest are Wireless Networks including 5G Networks, Telematics, IoT, Industrial IoT, IoT Security and Automotive Networks, including the intersection of AI, Machine Learning and Communication Networks.

For his contributions in the area of Communication Networks, Rajeev was elected a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering in 2007. He was recognized by ACM as a Distinguished Scientist in December 2014. He was elected a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), UK in 2021.

Rajeev serves on the Executive Council of ACM India and the Executive Council of IEEE ComSoc, Delhi Chapter. He is the co-founder & steering committee co-chair of two of the highly reputed international conferences – COMSNETS (www.comsnets.org) and AIMLSystems (www.aimlsystems.org). Rajeev serves on the advisory board of several start-up organizations and evaluation committee of several IT related projects of the Government of India.

During a professional career spanning over 30 years, Sanjay Bakaya has worked in diverse areas of the telecom industry. He spent the initial 14 years of his career at Motorola, Inc., then moved to Vanu Inc. before joining Mavenir. He is currently country head, India, and regional vice-president, India and South Asia at Mavenir. From 2008 to 2010, he also held the position of secretary general, Telecom Equipment Manufacturers Association (TEMA).

As country head, Bakaya helps his team make positive contributions to organisational growth while developing trust and goodwill with customers. “I hunt for new customers and help in their growth through our company’s technology, concepts and products. We aspire to cater to all customers – big or small,” he says.

Going forward, Bakaya aims to tap opportunities in the infrastructure, 5G, Open RAN and cloud-native domains. However, he describes right pricing of 5G spectrum, security concerns around 5G and seamless multicloud-enabled infrastructure as key challenges in the industry.

Bakaya believes that telecom is developing at such a fast rate that telcos are constantly reviewing their business models and assessing their required skills. He feels that enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), the transformation of telcos into “techos”, aggressive fiberisation and satellite backhaul for rural broadband connectivity will drive innovation for telcos in the coming years.

While Bakaya has had many memorable moments during his career, he specifically remembers his first deal as a sales leader. “It was a $100 million contract for swapping and expanding the 2G cellular service network for an operator for two metros. The team hit a roadblock in the first hour itself. However, my technical and customer teams managed to overcome the technical challenge in the last five minutes, and we went live with the migration of all commercial customers to a new network,” Bakaya remembers.

He describes his management style as persistent and focused and feels that his primary strength lies in being self-motivated. “I believe in hard work with a never-say-die attitude,” he says.

Bakaya has a BE degree in electronics and telecommunications from the National Institute of Technology, Srinagar. He likes to stay abreast with world news and describes watching television as his main stress-buster. “I also enjoy listening to old, classic songs and reading articles on cutting-edge technology,” he says. His family comprises his wife and two daughters.

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Suresh Chitturi is the leader of the Standards team in the Advanced Research Division of Samsung Research Institute Bangalore. The team focus areas include research and standardization of emerging technologies in the areas of mobile services, security, and convergence standards. He received his Bachelor's degree in electronics and communications, from University B.D.T. College of Engineering, India, followed by an M.Sc. degree in computer science from the University of North Texas. He has over 15 years total experience in the mobile industry, including over 12 years of experience in defining emerging technology standards. He is currently the Vice-Chairman of the 3GPP SA6 Working Group on Mission-Critical Applications, and has played an instrumental role in steering SA6 to completion of the MCPTT functional architecture in Release 13. Prior to Samsung, he worked at BlackBerry USA (2006–2013) and Nokia Research Centre, Dallas, Texas (2000–2006), responsible for mobile web and services standards. His current interests include public safety, loT, and vehicular communications.

Sreenivasa Reddy is a Senior Director of Engineering at Microsoft, where he leads technology, R&D, standardization, and regulatory engineering in mixed reality, as well as Metaverse areas in India and APAC, the Middle East, and Africa. He has about 32 years of technology experience across wireless, wireline, optical, and telecom power domains.

Prior to this, Sreeni was part of the Apple India leadership team, heading the regulatory, technology, spectrum, and standardisation functions. He was with Ericsson India as VP & Head of Government and Industry Relations; AVP Strategy & Emerging Business with an Indian carrier Aircel; and with Marconi Plc. on a global role handling pre-sales and product management.

Sreeni is an engineer by education and profession and an evangelist of technology by passion. He holds an MBA and an executive management degree from Duke University.

Industry leader with 30 years of diverse experience in telecom industry having served DoT, BSNL (India’s incumbent telco), TEC, British Telecom, Ericsson and Huawei in key leadership roles. Currently working as Head of Spectrum & 6G Engagement, Region India.

Accomplished 3GPP Technology & ITU-R Spectrum standardization expert with outside-in perspective and a good hand at technical analyses and simulations, able to develop immaculate strategy driving a balance among MNOs priorities, Academic research, Industry dynamics, and Policy ambitions.

Active participation in WRC-15 and WRC-19 cycles, in consistent engagement with DoT, WPC, TEC, GSA, GSMA, COAI, MNOs and Industry.

Presently, spearheading WRC-23 strategy for IMT spectrum agenda actively participating in ITU-R/APT, driving harmonized positions in association with GSA/GSMA/COAI/TSDSI/MNOs/OEMs. Actively engaged with Industry, Government (DoT, WPC, TEC, TRAI), TSDSI and industry think-tanks (GSMA, GSA, COAI). Keeping close track of CEPT ECC PT1 and emerging spectrum access paradigms (DSA, eLSA, CBRS) and Open-RAN initiatives, and associated challenges.

Consistently engaged in 3GPP for LTE and 5G NR standards development (RAN, SA) since 2012 and start-to-finish participation in ITU-R IMT-2020 cycle (2014-2020), gaining hands-on experience to system-wide view to technology development lifecycle, exposure to IPR / SEP (FRAND) aspects. Currently, engaged in ITU-R IMT-2030/ 6G development process.

Mr. Ravi Gandhi expert in Public Policy & Regulatory Affairs with a demonstrated career history in the telecommunications industry. Skilled in Business Management, Strategic Planning, Crossfunctional Team Leadership and Management

P Balaji is the Chief Regulatory and Corporate Affairs Officer of Vodafone Idea Limited, India’s largest telecom service provider, effective 31 August 2018. A member of the National Leadership Team, Balaji leads the company’s Regulatory, Public Policy and Government Relations activities along with Industry advocacy, Corporate Communications, Reputation Management and CSR. Prior to his present role, Balaji was the Director –Regulatory, External Affairs and CSR at Vodafone India. He was responsible for leading the company’s Regulatory, Public Policy & Government Relations activities and also the External Affairs function overseeing Corporate Communications, Reputation Management and administering Corporate Social Responsibility and the Vodafone Foundation in India. Prior to that, he was the Managing Director of Nokia India and Managing Director of Sony Mobile. He has spent over two and half decades in Telecom & IT handling diverse functions including sales, marketing, strategy, operations, and product management. Balaji has held senior leadership positions in start-up and turn-around ventures of TATA group, AT&T, Ericsson, Lucent and Sony, gaining rich experience and exposure to the emerging Digital landscape. Balaji is also the Chairman of ASSOCHAM National Council on Telecommunications and Convergence, a member of National Council of apex industry chambers like CII, FICCI, ASSOCHAM, AIMA and Telecom Sector Skill Council. He was President of Telecom Equipment Manufacturers Association (TEMA), Northern Region Chairman of the Telecom Export promotion council and member of Task Force forum set up by government on policy matters. An Electronics Engineer from IIT Roorkee, Balaji completed his MBA from IIM-Ahmedabad in Marketing, Finance and Strategy.

Jishnu is a Principal Architect in CTO’s office at Tejas Networks. He is driving the company’s long term technology roadmap. He is actively engaged in contributing to development of standards at the ITU-T SG15, ITU-R WP-5D and 3GPP RAN1/SA2, and successfully coordinated TSDSI efforts for inclusion of TSDSI’s 5Gi in IMT2020 at ITU. Earlier, Jishnu steered development of the CPRI Fronthaul standard at TSDSI. He has filed for 16 patents and is currently focussing on 5G-Adv evolution, IIoT and network slicing.

1. Mr. Bhagirath is 1997 batch officer of Indian Radio Regulatory Service

2. He has Passed BE with Hons. in Electrical Engineering from MBM Engineering, Jodhpur in 1993

3. Worked as lecturer for about 4 years at Govt Polytechnic College

4. Joined WPC wing in July 1999.

5. Has participated five international conferences on Spectrum Management and Spectrum Monitoring at 3 at ITU head quarter, Geneva, one each at Denang (Vietnam) and Bali (Indonesia)

6. Also participated in the proceedings of ISRO-DEVAS matter at the international court, The Hague, Netherlands and at Paris court on behalf of Union of INDIA, as Indian Spectrum regulation expert.

7. Presently working as Sr. Deputy Wireless Adviser at Sanchar Bhawan, New Delhi and incharge of IMT section within WPC, responsible for spectrum assignments to terrestrial TSPs, Spectrum Policies, TRAI references, among others.

Shri Manish Sinha is a 1989 batch officer of Indian P&T Accounts and Finance Service. In the service, he has had vital experience in dealing with billing systems and the FMS software in MTNL and thereafter he had experience in Banking and Vigilance sections in BSNL. He has worked in Planning and Procurement Division of Department of Telecommunications followed by another stint in DoT as DDG License Finance. He has dealt with the entre gamut of licenses and spectrum during his stay in TRAI for two and half years. In addition, he has also worked for four and half years in the Department of Post dealing with all Postal services, banking, PLI etc. He has been innovative in his approach and managed to make many useful changes in the Department of Post as well as in Department of Telecommunications.

Shri Manish Sinha is an alumni of St. Stephens College at Delhi University wherein he completed his M.A. in History in 1989. Thereafter, he has done a PG Diploma in Financial Management from IGNOU followed by a MBA from University of Birmingham, United Kingdom. Recently in 2016, he also obtained a M. Phil degree from Punjab University as a part of the APPPA programme at IIPA. He was also a recipient of the Silver Medal in this programme. Subject of research for his M. Phil course was ‘Net Neutrality’.

At present, Mr. Manish Sinha has been appointed as Member Finance of Digital Communications Commission, Department of Telecommunications from 15 th July, 2022

Ms. Gunjan Dave completed her graduation and post-graduation from the prestigious IIT Roorkee. She further pursued an MBA from the esteemed Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies in Mumbai. In 1987, she joined the Indian Telecom Services and dedicated more than three decades of her career to MTNL Mumbai, serving in various capacities.

Throughout her tenure at MTNL, Ms. Gunjan Dave showcased her versatility by working across multiple units, including IT, Planning, Installation, Broadband, Mobile, and Call Center operations. She also held the position of Area In charge. Her contributions were instrumental in handling the planning of new exchanges, telecom traffic routing, and the establishment of computerised digital trunk exchanges in Mumbai, as well as the introduction of radio paging services during the early 90s.

With an extensive background in IT, Ms. Gunjan Dave successfully implemented numerous IT-enabled systems such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Billing for Mobile, Network Management Systems (NMS) for exchanges, and Fraud Management Systems. She also played a pivotal role in software development for in- house usage, as well as the creation of customer-friendly applications. Notably, she was involved in significant projects, including the Mumbai Wi-Fi, IT security audits, including SOX audits, and the management of MTNL's data center.

From March 2022 to April 2023, Ms. Gunjan Dave served as the Senior DDG (Senior Deputy Director General) for Gujarat LSA (Licensed Service Area), overseeing Gujarat and the Union Territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli. During her tenure, she led the successful launch of 5G services in Gujarat and implemented the CBUD app, along with other Government initiatives.

Continuing her upward trajectory, Ms. Gunjan Dave assumed the role of Member (Technology) at DCC (Digital Communications Commission), Ministry of Telecom starting from June 1st, 2023. In this prestigious position, she is responsible for initiating policy decisions, driving technological advancements and strategic decision-making in the telecommunications sector.

Håkan Ohlsén took his Ph.D. degree in Solid State Physics at Uppsala University in 1986, and continued with research at the Swedish Institute of Microelectronics in Stockholm. In 1990 he was appointed an Associate Professor at Uppsala University. He joined Ericsson Sweden early in the year of 1995, working with rad

He joined Ericsson Sweden early in the year of 1995, working with radio interfaces for the 3rd Generation/IMT-2000 mobile systems. In 1996 he started work at the Ericsson office in Japan and participated in the standardization of WCDMA and the set-up of 3GPP. Since 1998 he has been at the Ericsson Headquarters with focus on access standardization strategies. In 2004 he was elected Vice-Chairman of the ITU group responsible for IMT and its evolution (today WP5D). Currently the position for Håkan Ohlsén is Director, Spectrum and Radio Technology in the Ericsson Group Function Technology, and he is based at the Ericsson Hanoi office.

Parag Kar is Vice President, Government Affairs of Qualcomm India and South Asia, and has been the company’s key regulatory and policy interface for the Indian subcontinent and the region since January 2005. His role includes forging lasting relationships with regulators, industry and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), apart from helping establish Qualcomm’s leadership position as a pioneer and innovator in mobile wireless technologies globally and in India by creating a sphere of influence among key government, industry, media and civil society champions. Mr. Kar is a key member of Qualcomm India’s leadership team, and works closely with all stakeholders to realize the company’s vision to take the benefits of mobile broadband to a larger base of Indian consumers, in particular to a billion Indians and beyond with advanced mobile wireless technologies like 3G and LTE. Mr. Kar has been working closely with the DoT, industry bodies and telecom operators to ensure that policies and regulation are aligned with international best practices and the benefits of global experiences can be realized in an Indian context. Mr. Kar has over 22 years of experience in the telecommunications industry. Prior to his appointment at Qualcomm, he was responsible for business development of broadband convergence technologies (both wireless and wireline) at Lucent Technologies in India. Before that, he was with the Indian Railways and responsible for the successful completion of various telecom projects in the Railways. He holds a Bachelors Degree in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering from the Regional Engineering College Bhopal and a Masters Degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. As an expert and thought leader in the industry, Mr. Kar is also quoted extensively by key media and has written extensively in several newspapers and magazines.

Alan Norman joined Facebook’s connectivity policy team in August 2016 and actively supports Facebook’s Connectivity initiatives. Alan is a long-time advocate for improved broadband and internet access, shared infrastructure, and spectrum for next generation technologies. Recently Alan has been actively engaged on Rural Access, Wi-Fi, mmWave, and 5G. Alan holds a BS in Mathematical Sciences from Stanford University and an MS in Management from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business where he was a Sloan Fellow.

Previously held a variety of roles including UK government, Nokia, 4G pioneer start upFlarion Technologies, Qualcomm and wireless energy harvesting start-up Drayson Technologies.

This is India’s leading industry association for Telecom, Broadband and Digital services. In his current assignment, he works extensively on telecom and broadband policy, regulatory compliance aspects. He works closely with senior government officials and private sector executives to further augment mobile, broadband and digital services business.He is a member of the Joint Working Group on Cyber Security chaired by Deputy National Security Advisor. Is a frequent speaker at Cyber, and Telecom Network Security workshops /conferences. An active member of Telecom and Broadband Committees of national industry associations - CII,FICCI, Assocham, TSDSI Committees. He participates in many International Workshops / conferences being conducted by ITU, APT etc. He is a non-executive director of the Board of the Global Certification Forum.He was the Chief Regulatory Relations (CRO), with TATA Teleservices Limited from 2008-10. Earlier he was with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) as their Chief Information Officer (CIO) for three years (2005 -2008). Prior to that, he served in the communications arm (Signals) of the Indian Army (for a tenure of 24 years), from where he took voluntary retirement in 2005. He is an alumni of the NDA, Kharakvasla.Vikram did his Masters in Technology from the IIT Kharagpur in Electronics and Communication Engineering.

Jitendra Singh is working with Qualcomm since 2009. His responsibilities include interfacing with regulatory and policy making agencies in the region on behalf of Qualcomm. Jitendra has more than 30 years of experience in the field of communications management. Prior to his appointment at Qualcomm he served in the government. He has been actively involved in National Working Groups of the ITU-R in India and has been a key contributor in all the Standards related activities of the industry. This includes the advocacy and planning of identification of additional spectrum for IMT and mobile broadband at various forums – National as well as Global. He had been an active contributor by introducing a number of papers in ITUR on behalf of India. He plays a key role in APT region telecom industry coordination activities. He is part of many industry associations. He has created and submitted many spectrum policy related papers in ITU and APT on behalf of India. He also heads GSA India team.

I work with startups in India to design products that leverage AI and compute on the edge. Application areas include agri tech, industrial IOT, robotics, automotive, and medical technologies. Also advise the companies on their IP strategy.
As an innovation / IP / tech transfer evangelist, I frequently engage with the ecosystem participants including startups, academia, and the industry. I have run several programs to generate disruptions and patents.
I find myself frequently at the intersection of technology domains and truly enjoy the experience. I have worked on projects spanning semiconductors, multimedia (camera, display, graphics), MEMS, materials science, optics, and nanotechnology devices.
I have been granted two US patents, have 10+ patents pending with US and other international patent offices, several peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations.
Over the years, I have been a practitioner of Design Thinking and try to apply it to every project be it IP strategy or baking. The “professor” in me tries to impart this mindset to interns and startups. As a coffee lover, I am frequently found taking on new beans and coffee shops.

Viswanathan Ramaswamy, commonly knows as ‘Vishy’, is a telecom industry leader with over 3½ decades of experience in the communications industry. He has a vast knowledge about various networking technologies and the associated IT solutions. He has been a thought leader in the areas of technology convergence and industry application of mobile network technologies. He is currently the Vice President for 5G and Digital Solutions Incubation in Tata Communications. Prior to this he has worked with companies like Wipro, Vodafone India, AT&T and Crompton Greaves Ltd.

Janne has been working at Ericsson in the research and development of 3G, 4G, 5G and 6G systems since 1998. Previously, he has coordinated Ericsson’s radio-access network standardization activities in 3GPP and led Ericsson research programs for 5G and beyond. He is currently the Head of Connectivity Networks Standards in Ericsson Group Function Technology, responsible for standardization in 3GPP, O-RAN Alliance. He is also responsible for 6G industry initiatives.

In 2001, he received the Ericsson Inventor of the Year award. He has authored several publications and patents and holds both an M.SC. and a Ph.D. from the University of Helsinki, Finland.

Prakash Moorut is the Global Head of Spectrum and Regulatory Affairs at Shure Incorporated, a leading manufacturer of high-quality, innovative audio products for 97 years. He is responsible for leading Shure’s efforts to advocate for audio professionals as it pertains to regulations. Before coming to Shure, he spent 24 years in the mobile industry, most recently serving as Head of Spectrum Standardization for Nokia.
He is currently the Chief Regulatory Officer of the Wireless Innovation Forum (WInnForum) dedicated to advancing technologies supporting the innovative utilization of spectrum in bands such as the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) shared band or the 6 GHz unlicensed band. He is also the Chair of the Ecosystem and Regulation Working Group of 5G-Media Action Group to address the potential use of 5G for media production and distribution.
He was part of the US delegation for the 2019 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) in Egypt and is a member of the US Federal Communications Commission’s 2023 WRC Advisory Committee. He has been active in ITU-R meetings, including as part of the US delegations. He has several publications and patents related to spectrum usage and received his master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from "Ecole Supérieure d'Electricité" (SUPELEC) in Paris, France.

Suvesh Chattopadhyaya is a Director in Adani Data Networks Ltd., which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Adani Enterprises Ltd. He is also the key signatory in all the documents of Adani Data uploaded on the Department of Telecommunications’ website. Suvesh Chattopadhyaya has been working in the telecom space since 1994 and joined the Adani Group in 2021.He has largely worked across network planning & deployment for enterprises services and has no major experience in past with consumer mobility.

Rahul Vatts is Chief Regulatory Officer (India & South Asia), Bharti Airtel & Director – OneWeb Communications India and Vice Chairman of Indian Space Association (ISpA). He is also Board Director in Indo Teleports Limited & Mobipro, which runs India Mobile Congress.

A telecom & digital industry veteran with over 29 years of experience with leading corporations, Rahul is an expert on Telecom Licensing, Economic & Digital Regulations, Spectrum Management and Regulatory Litigation. He has actively shaped public policy discussion in emerging areas such as data privacy, Open Access, M2M & IoT and content self-regulation. He firmly believes that the aim of policy and regulatory environment should be delivering benefits to stakeholders across value chain viz. consumers, businesses and the Government.

Rahul’s domain expertise has been extensively used in global forums by OneWeb UK, Axiata in Malaysia, Indosat in Indonesia and Dialog in Sri Lanka.

Rahul did his Engineering in Telecommunications from University of Pune and is an alumnus of Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad and The Wharton School, Pennsylvania. He has been a member of the Executive Committee of the Cellular operators Association of India (COAI) for more than a decade and is also member of FSMA Global policy group and Spectrum Management group besides being a Governing Council member of various Telecom standardization bodies in India.

Dr. Vinosh Babu James leads the technical standards engagement for Qualcomm in India. He engages Indian & regional stakeholders on matters related to radio standardization, harmonization and regulation. Vinosh joined Qualcomm in 2011, and has served in several roles spanning engineering and standardization. He has a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the IIT Madras, with specialization in wireless communication. He has held several technical roles, including serving as the Chairman of the 5G working group in TSDSI. He is also a senior member of the IEEE.

Dr. Sendil Kumar Devar is currently responsible for leading standardization and spectrum engagements in India. He works closely with the national, regional and global working groups related to standards and spectrum matters. He actively contributes towards national preparatory views towards the ITU-R, APT, AWG and WRC., He actively contributed in the IMT-2020 process. At Ericsson, he is focused on future spectrum that are subject of the World Radio Conference and support for technical studies. He was awarded Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering with specialization in Wireless Communication from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras., Prior to Ericsson, he worked with research organizations including Samsung R&D, Centre of Excellence of Wireless Technology and Telecom Centre of Excellence. He had contributed to standardization development in both 3GPP2 and 3GPP for HRPD, HSDPA, LTE. He also has a career stint as a mentor in a patent service organization dealing with patents for 4G standards and high-tech industries.

Punit Rathod (Member, IEEE) received the Ph.D. degree from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, India. He has more than 15 years of wireless research and development experience. He has a diverse experience of working as an academic researcher and a co-founder of a startup with deployed equipment in public-safety agencies in India and multinational companies. He has contributed to national and international standardization efforts at 3GPP, IEEE, and ITUR. His recent work has been focused on spectrum and standardization as a Lead-Technical Standards with Qualcomm Standards and Industry Organization.

Nadeem Akhtar is a Product Manager at Tarana Wireless. He is responsible for driving features related to Wi-Fi products, especially in the area of radio resource management. Nadeem also engages with industry bodies like the Wi-Fi Alliance on matters pertaining to device certification.

Paramjit Singh Puri is Director of Membership for Wi-Fi Alliance, a global organization driving Wi-Fi adoption and evolution. Wi-Fi Alliance has more than 900 members from all spheres of the communications, wireless, and Wi-Fi Industry including IoT, automotive, and smart home. Wi-Fi Alliance work includes the development of innovative technologies, requirements, and test programs that help ensure Wi-Fi provides users the interoperability, security, and reliability they have come to expect., Param was previously heading Industry development and membership for the Wireless Broadband Alliance Ltd. He is a seasoned veteran of the ICT Industry having worked in organizations like AT&T, Cisco, Siemens, Compaq, and Epson in senior positions including MD of Epson India. He has been promoting and working in the area of Wi-Fi and Unlicensed from the last 12 years and is closely involved with FICCI and interacting with TRAI and DOT in the area of Wi-Fi and Unlicensed spectrum.

Mr. Bharat Bhatia has over 45 years of experience in Telecom and ICT policy, regulations and spectrum management.He is the President of ITU-APT Foundation of India and Vice Chairman of the World Wireless Research Forum (WWRF) for the Asia Pacific. Mr. Bhatia also chairs the PPDR working groups under ITU and APT. Earlier he was also the President of TEMA – India’s Telecom Equipment Manufacturers Association and Vice President of ATIS -Association of Telecom Industries of Singapore. Mr. Bhatia was earlier heading the international spectrum team of Motorola Solutions Inc. where he worked for over 20 years. Prior to that, he was a senior regulator with the Indian Government for 22 years as a spectrum regulator and Telecom policy specialist and was actively involved in opening of the Indian telecom to the private sector, including the licensing of first ever GSM metro cellular in India through a beauty contest in 1992. He was also a key architect of India’s first ever National Frequency Allocation Plan (NFAP) in 1981 and the first ever published NFAP in 2000. Mr. Bhatia actively participates in various ITU and APT meetings and has attended all World Radio Conferences during the last 20 years.He was the key originator of ITU World Radio Conference Resolutions on PPDR, which were adopted at WRC-2003 and WRC-2015.Mr. Bharat Bhatia holds a B. E. degree from University of Delhi in Electronics and Telecommunications and is a fellow member of IETE, the Institution of Electronics & Telecommunications Engineers. He did his Foundational Course from Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration in 1976.

The total experience of Mr. Dua accounts to more than 35 years in the telecom sector. His experience includes all facets of telecom be it Product Development, Business Development, Telecom Licensing, Regulatory issues with respect to interconnection / roaming / unified licensing and infrastructure sharing / Mobile Number Portability, Spectrum Management, Spectrum Related Issues Like Spectrum Pricing, Efficient Utilization and Spectrum reframing, finalization of joint ventures, Technical collaboration, Introduction of new product, Launch of cellular services in India and finalization of licence agreements / interconnect agreements etc.Over the years in the industry, Mr. Dua have held prestigious positions as Director in leading telecom companies like Bharti Airtel Ltd., Shyam Telecom Ltd., Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), Vice Chairman and Global ICT Standardization Forum for India. Mr. Dua is an engineering graduate with diploma in Business Management and export Marketing.

Shri K. Rajaraman has assumed the charge of Secretary, Department of Telecommunications, Government of India, vice Shri Anshu Prakash, IAS (UT:86) consequent upon his superannuation on 30th September, 2021. Prior to this, he was serving as Additional Secretary, Investments & Infrastructure, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance. Shri K. Rajaraman is an Indian Administrative Services Officer of 1989 batch, from Tamil Nadu cadre. He has held many important positions in the Union Government which include Additional Secretary in Department of Economic Affairs, M/o Finance, Government of India and Joint Secretary in Department of Expenditure, M/o Finance, Government of India. He has also held several key positions in the Government of Tamil Nadu including Managing Director of Chennai Metro Railway Limited and Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, Government of Tamil Nadu etc.

Shri Devusinh Chauhan was born on 29th October, 1964 in Navagam village of Kheda district in the State of Gujarat. He obtained Diploma in Electrical Engineering from the Government Polytechnic College in Porbandar, Gujarat. He worked as an engineer in Akashwani Kendra an organization under the Government of India for 13 years. Subsequently, he left the government service in 2002 to join public life as a politician to serve the people of India.
Shri Devusinh Chauhan won Vidhan Sabha election from Matar constituency of Kheda district of Gujarat in 2007. He was re-elected as Member of Legislative Assembly of Matar in 2012. He was elected as Member of Parliament for the 16th Lok Sabha from Lok Sabha constituency of Kheda, Gujarat in 2014. He again won Lok Sabha Constituency from the same constituency in 2019. He served as a Member of Parliamentary Committee on Water Resources and Defence. He has also served as a Member of Consultative Committee of the Ministry of Communications & Information Technology and Ministry of Food Processing Industries. He has undergone a short course at King’s College, London which was organized by the British High Commission.
He assumed the charge of the Union Minister of State for Communications on 7th July, 2021 in the Council of Minister headed by the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.

Before he joined to APT, he had been working at Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), Japan for more than 25 years. His experiences include working as a diplomat at the Japanese Embassy in Jordan (1996- 1999), and as a policy maker for bilateral and multilateral issues for G7, OECD, APEC, ITU etc. (2002-04, 2008-2014). He also implemented many projects under PPP in ICT field and collaborated with many international organizations and private sectors. He holds B.A. in Economics from Keio University in Japan and MSc. in Economics from the London School of Economics (LSE) in the United Kingdom. He was also a visiting scholar at Harvard University (Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, 2003-04) in the United States.

Dr. Kyu-Jin Wee was elected as the chairman of the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity (APT) ConferencePreparatory Group for the World Radiocommunication Conference 2023 (WRC 2023). Dr. Wee has been participating in WRC events since 1995 as a delegate of Korea and worked to improve the country's rights in using radio waves. He served his first four-year term as the chairman of the preparatory group from 2016 to 2020. He is also a vice-chair and chairman of Woking group General aspects of the ITU-R Working Party 5D.

Major International Positions:

• 1997 – 1999: Chairman, ITU-R TG8/1 WG4
• 2001 – 2007: Vice-Chairman, ITU-R WP8F
• 2001 – 2003: Chairman, APT Preparatory Group for the Asia Pacific Region for WRC-03 (APG)
• WP2 2003 : Vice-Chair of Committee 7, WRC 03
• 2003 – 2006: Vice-Chairman of APT Management Committee
• 2004: Chairman, 3GPP PCG
• 2004 – 2007: Chairman, APT Preparatory Group for the Asia Pacific Region for WRC-07 (APG)
• WP1 2007 – 2011: Vice Chairman, ITU-R SG5
• 2008 – 2015: Vice-Chairman, APT Preparatory Group for the Asia Pacific Region for WRC
• (APG) 2009 – 2012: Chairman of APT Management Committee
• 2010: Chairman of Committee 3, PP-10
• 2012: Chairman of Committee 2, WTSA-12
• 2008 – Present: Vice Chairman, ITU-R WP5D
• 2016 – Present: Vice Chairman, ITU-R Radiocommunication Advisory Group (RAG)
• Awards
• - Awarded Diploma of Recognition by Korea President for outstanding contribution to the International Activities (2001)
• - Awarded Diploma of Recognition by Minister of MIC for outstanding contribution to WRC-97 (1998) - Awarded Diploma of Recognition by Minister of MOD for the exemplary soldier(1978)
• - Awarded Diploma of Recognition by Secretary General of Telecommunication Technology Association for outstanding contribution of Standardizing to industry(1997)

She Joined Wireless Planning and Coordination (WPC) Wing as a Group A officer in 1996 through Indian Engineering Services (IES) exam. Cadre is IRRS (Indian Radio Regulatory Services)Representing as Frequency Expert from Asia Pacific Region in the Frequency Working Party (FWP) of International Telecommunications Satellite Organisation, Headquarter at Washington, USA Assisted DoS as spectrum regulatory expert in dealing International arbitration cases at the International Court of Justice, The Hague.Contributed and attended various meetings on spectrum management at International Telecommunications (ITU) level and also at Asia Pacific Telecommunity (APT) regional level Past experience: Radio frequency interference resolution, Spectrum Auctions.

Shri V.J. Christopher has worked in WMO since 1991. He has worked at different Monitoring Stations, Satellite Monitoring Station, Jalna and Regional Headquarters, Mumbai. In 2006 was posted to WPC. Worked in different divisions in licensing. In 2018 promoted as JWA and posted at RLO Mumbai. In November 2022 was promoted as Wireless Adviser. He has experience of Spectrum Management Work at the Ministry in different divisions. He also played an active role in the spectrum auction held in 2016.

Prof. Abhay Karandikar is currently serving as the Secretary of Department of Science and Technology (DST). Earlier, he was the Dean (Faculty Affairs) and the Institute Chair Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at IIT Bombay. He has been instrumental in developing many pathbreaking technologies and has been at the forefront of several large initiatives both at the institute and the national level. He is the founding member and chairman of the Telecom Standards Development Society of India (TSDSI), India's standards body for telecom. He has also served as the coordinator of Tata Teleservices IIT Bombay Center of Excellence in Telecommunications (TICET) and the National Center of Excellence in Technology for Internal Security. Prof. Abhay Karandikar received his M.Tech. and then a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from IIT Kanpur in 1988 and 1994, respectively. Following it, he joined the high performance computing group of the Center for Development of Advanced Computing. In April 1997, he joined IIT Bombay as a faculty in the Department of Electrical Engineering and continues to be associated with the institute. Since then, he has held several administrative positions including Dean (Faculty Affairs), 2017-2018; Professor-in- charge, IIT Bombay Research Park, 2014-2017; Head of the Department, 2012-2015; and Head of the Computer Center, 2008-2011. Prof. Karandikar's current research interests include frugal 5G and rural broadband, device to device communication, software defined networking, network function virtualization and 5G core network, and quality of service and resource allocation in wired/wireless networks. His large research group comprises research scientists, engineers, scholars and senior managers. They have together developed several pathbreaking technologies. These include Linux based MPLS router, Emergency Communication System for Force 1, Low Cost Cellular Backhaul for Rural Access (CeBRA), Mobile Social Networking Platform (MSNP) and several others. In 2002, he co-founded and incubated Eisodus Networks in IIT Bombay's business incubator. The aim was to develop metro Ethernet switch for broadband access network. Later, the company secured investors' funding and in 2007, became a part of Tejas Networks.
Prof. Karandikar has 20+ patents to his credit, papers in international journals, contributions to IEEE, 3GPP standards and contributed chapters in books. He has been an invited speaker in national and international forums. He has led 20+ sponsored research projects with industries and government funding agencies and served on numerous national committees as an expert member and advisor. Currently, he is working as a consultant to provide technical expertise in design and implementation of BharatNet, Government of India's flagship initiative under Digital India program. On 18 April 2018, he took charge as the Director of IIT Kanpur, his alma mater.

Current Positions in International Telecommunications Union (ITU) .Vice Chair, Telecommunications Development Advisory Group (TDAG) of ITU (International Telecommunications Union) —from Asia-Pacific Region. Vice Chair Council Working Group (CWG) Internet, ITU Previous Positions in ITU and APT Chair, Working Group on Policy, Legal —APT (Asia Pacific Telecommunity) Preparatory Process for ITU PP Conference 2018 Vice Chair, APT Preparatory process for WTDC-17 Chair, Drafting Group for Study Group Questions WTDC 2017

Arun Agarwal holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electronics Engineering and an MBA. He is an Indian Telecom Service Officer of 1990 batch and has about 30 years of experience in the areas of planning, installation, standardization, USOF Schemes etc. of telecommunication. Presently, he is working as DDG(Radio) in Telecom Engineering Centre, DoT, New Delhi and is dealing with issues related to Radio, Satellite EMF, EMI/EMC, etc.