Speakers

Mr. Jyotiraditya M. Scindia has been recently appointed as the Union Minister of Communications; and Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), Government of India. He is a six-term Member of Parliament, which includes five terms in the Lok Sabha (2002-04, 2004-09, 2009-14, 2014-19, 2024-2029), and one term in the Rajya Sabha (2020-2024) representing the state of Madhya Pradesh. During the Lok Sabha 2024 elections and Vidhan Sabha 2023 elections, he was appointed as the star campaigner for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state of Madhya Pradesh. He is also the Member of the BJP Election Management Committee and the Core Committee of BJP in Madhya Pradesh. From 2014 to 2020 he was the Member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) and from 2019-2020 as the General Secretary of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) he took charge for Uttar Pradesh West. From 2014-2019, he was appointed as Chief Whip of Congress in the Lok Sabha and also served as the Chairman of the Election Campaign Committee during the 2013 and 2018 Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections. Mr. Scindia began his journey in public service in 2002. In his tenure as the Union Minister of Civil Aviation and Steel (from 2021 to 2024), Mr. Scindia played an instrumental role in incorporating substantial improvements in the aviation sector, enhancing connectivity and infrastructure across the country. His tenure saw initiatives aimed at modernizing airports and increasing accessibility to remote areas, thereby boosting economic growth and tourism. As Minister of Steel, Mr. Scindia has been pivotal in driving policies that strengthen the steel industry, ensuring it remains competitive on the global scale and contributes robustly to India's economic framework. He also made dedicated efforts to boost the green steel sector in India. From 2007-2009, he served as the Minister of State for Telecommunications, Posts and IT; from 2009-2012 as the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, and then, from 2012-2014 as Minister of Power (Independent Charge). Mr Scindia’s tenure as Minister of State for Telecommunications, Posts and IT ushered in the transformational Project Arrow that modernized the Indian post offices through new branding and IT-enabled procedures. In his tenure as Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, he successfully brought down transaction costs in Indian exports at various levels - right from the stage of production to the end customer. Additionally, as Minister of Power (Independent Charge), he led the establishment of a unified transmission grid network i.e. One Nation One Grid with a 6-sigma reliability system, linkages for power plants, and resolved last-mile distribution issues in collaboration with State Governments. Mr. Scindia has also been a member of Parliamentary Committees on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports; Defence; Finance; Home and External Affairs. Mr. Scindia completed his schooling from the Doon School, Dehradun. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Harvard University, USA and an MBA degree from the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, USA. Besides, Mr. Scindia has also worked at the United Nations, and as an investment banker at Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch. Apart from his political roles, Mr Scindia is passionate about education. He is currently serving as the President of the Board of Governors at the Scindia School (Gwalior), Madhav Institute of Technology & Sciences (Gwalior), and Samrat Ashok Technological Institute (Vidisha). He is also a Board Member for Scindia Kanya School (Gwalior) and Saraswati Sishu Mandir (Gwalior). With an avid interest in cricket, he has served as the Member of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), and as the Chairman of the Finance Committee and Member of the Disciplinary Committee of BCCI. For two years from 2014-16, he was the Member of the Governing Council for the Indian Premier League (IPL). He has acted as the Former President and Chairman of the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA) and also represented MPCA in the BCCI.

Dr. Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar is a graduate of Osmania Medical College in Hyderabad, India. He ranked 27th out of 60,000 students who took the EAMCET medical school entrance examination, one of the most competitive examinations in the country. He completed his residency in internal medicine at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Pennsylvania, and obtained the highest percentile scores in most board examinations. During his postgraduate training, he represented the state of Pennsylvania in a national medical knowledge competition for 2 years. He then worked at Johns Hopkins University – Sinai Hospital for about 5 years as an attending physician, teaching residents and medical students. He is also the founder of UWord, an online learning platform for high stakes competitive exams in the US. In 2020, he won the Ernst and Young Award of “Entrepreneur of the Year” in the US. Also, he is a member of Forbes Business Council. Dr. Pemmasani has worked in a free medical clinic providing care to uninsured/underinsured patients in the Indian community of Dallas. In India, he helped provide free and clean water to residents of the Palnadu in the Guntur district, for over 10 years, and donated land for a community hall in his father’s village. He has also provided educational funding to a number of children and adults besides giving charitable donations to local community organizations. In addition, through the CSR and foundation activities, he continues the philanthropic activities focusing on education, global crisis, and service basic needs. Dr Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar joined Telegu Desam Party (TDP) in year 2013 to serve the common people. He has been elected as Member of Parliament from Guntur Lok Sabha constituency in 2024.

Dr. Neeraj Mittal, Secretary, Department of Telecommunications, a senior Indian Administrative Service Officer of Tamil Nadu cadre, is a B. Tech in Electrical Engineering from IIT, Kanpur, MBA from Cranfield University, UK and Ph.D from Ohio State University, USA in Management Information Systems. He started his career as an IAS Officer in 1992. He has held various administrative positions in the fields of land and revenue management, mines and minerals, IT/Communications, e-governance. During his stint in Central deputation, he worked in Department of Telecom, Ministry of Commerce & Industry and Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas. In the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, he was instrumental in rolling out the Cash Transfer program in LPG and ‘Give It Up’ campaign. He has also served as Senior Advisor to the Executive Director in World Bank in Washington DC. He held important positions of CEO of Tamil Nadu Industrial Guidance and Export Promotion Bureau, Additional Chief Secretary, Information Technology and Digital Service Department and MD & CEO, Tamil Nadu Urban Finance and Infrastructure Development Corporation.

Prof. Abhay Karandikar is currently Secretary, Department of Science of Technology (DST). Before joining DST in October 2023, he served as the Director, IIT Kanpur from April 18th, 2018 to September 25th, 2023 (on lien from IIT Bombay). He also served as Dean (Faculty Affairs) and Head of the Electrical Engineering Department at IIT Bombay. He spearheaded a national effort in setting up Telecom Standards Development Society of India (TSDSI), India's standards body for telecom with participation of all stakeholders. Prof Karandikar was the founding member and former Chairman of TSDSI. He was also Member (Part-Time) of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) from January 2018- January 2021. Prof Karandikar has several patents issued and pending, contributions to IEEE, 3GPP standards,contributed chapters in books and large number of papers in international journals and conferences to his credit. Prof Karandikar was awarded with IEEE SA's Standards Medallion in December 2016 in New Jersey. His team also won Mozilla Open Innovation challenge prize in March 2017 for his work on rural broadband and digital empowerment in rural India.

Mr. N. Ganapathy Subramaniam (NGS), Chairman Bharat 6G Alliance, is with Tata Consultancy Service Limited as Consulting Advisor overseeing strategic initiatives, after a career of 42 years. He is also the Chairman of the Borad of Directors of Tejas Networks Limited and Tata Elxsi Limited. In the last four years, he was the Chair of TSDSI, India’s Telecom SDO, during which time he was also the 3GPP PCG Chair during 2023. He steers few initiatives under the aegis the Govt. of India as it relates to Standards Development and advancing the Bharat 6G Vision goals

Smt. Madhu Arora completed her graduation from Delhi University and her post-graduation from the University of Queensland, Australia. In 1988, she commenced her career with the Indian Telecom Services, dedicating approximately thirty-six years to various roles within the Government of India and its PSUs including BSNL and MTNL. Starting as a Subdivisional Officer at MTNL in Faridabad, she oversaw the expansion and maintenance of crucial infrastructure, ensuring uninterrupted communication at the E10B RLU exchange in Badarpur. This early role laid the foundation for her subsequent positions, such as Divisional Engineer and Assistant Divisional Engineer at the E10B Exchange Janpath, where she refined her skills in maintenance and subscriber service. Transitioning to Assistant General Manager at MTNL Delhi, she led equipment planning for advanced switching technologies, facilitating the smooth integration of systems from Alcatel, Siemens, and AT&T into network modules. Venturing into the governmental sphere as Deputy Secretary to the Government of India in 1997, she coordinated a vital World Bank-assisted project on technician education, influencing national policies in higher and technical education. This experience prepared her for her subsequent role as Director at the Department of Telecommunications, where she managed critical services and operational matters for BSNL. Subsequently, as General Manager (Restructuring) at BSNL, she spearheaded "Project SHIKHAR” collaborating with industry experts for BSNL’s transformation towards improved performance. During her tenure as Chief General Manager of BSNL's West Bengal Telecom Circle during 2021-23, significant improvements were achieved across all domains, encompassing enhanced financial performance & improved operational KPIs. Smt. Madhu Arora further ascended in her career, assuming the role of Member (Technology) at DCC (Digital Communications Commission), Ministry of Telecom, effective April 1, 2024. In this esteemed position, she is entrusted with initiating policy decisions, driving technological advancements, and leading strategic decision-making in the telecommunications sector.

Ms. Tripti Saxena is an officer of 1987 Batch of Indian Telecommunication Services (ITS) and joined Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications, Government of India in 1989. She has done her bachelor’s degree in Engineering from Allahabad University. She has rich experience of around 35 years in telecommunication sector. She has worked under various capacities in Government of India including planning, execution and operation & maintenance of telecom networks etc. In her current role, she is working as Senior Deputy Director General (Sr. DDG) & Head of Telecommunication Engineering Centre (TEC), the technical wing of Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Government of India and also the National Standardization Body (NSB) for telecommunication sector in India.

Shri V.J. Christopher joined WPC Wing in the year 1991. He has working experience of more than 30 years in Spectrum Management. The major areas of work include Spectrum Planning, Licensing, Spectrum Auction, Radio Monitoring and Satellite Monitoring. He has worked in different Units of WPC and WMO.In November 2022 he was promoted as Wireless Adviser.

A. Robert Jerard Ravi I.T.S is an accomplished Indian Telecom Service officer with degrees in Electronics Engineering (First Rank) and an MBA in International Business from Pondicherry University.

He has significantly contributed to Indian telecommunications by developing key initiatives such as the Indian AI stack, TAFCOP portal, RF coverage portal, and NBM portal for the Department of Telecom. He designed and implemented major projects, including the Integrated Communications Network for Pondicherry University and PSWAN for the Pondicherry government.

His international experience includes roles as Chief Engineer at Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd. and Chief Consultant for broadband projects in Kuwait, where he pioneered FTTH and OTN systems. He has also consulted on e-governance projects in Kuwait, revitalized telecom services in Libya and Lebanon, and has presented and published extensively on broadband and communication systems.

Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi heads the Centre of Excellence in Wireless Technology, located at the IIT-Madras Research Park, which is focused on emerging wireless standards and technologies. He is a holder of several patents related to 4G and 5G technologies and was the national coordinator for the project to build an end-to-end 5G Test Bed. He has served as the Chairperson of TSDSI. He is a Fellow of the IEEE and INAE and an Hon. Fellow of RWTH Aachen, Germany. He served as Director, IIT Madras from 2011-21. Bhaskar Ramamurthi graduated with a B.Tech in Electronics from IIT Madras (1980). He secured his M.S. (1982) and Ph.D. (1985) in Electrical Engineering from the University of California at Santa Barbara. After working at AT&T Bell Laboratories for a couple of years, he joined the faculty of his alma mater in 1986. His areas of specialization are Communications and Signal Processing. His body of research is in Wireless Networks, Modulation, Wireless Data, and Audio and Video Compression.

Dr. Magnus Frodigh?is Vice President and Head of Ericsson Research. In this role, he leads Ericsson’s long-term technology research organization, its close collaboration with academia and industry, and its contributions to Ericsson business and product development.

He holds a Master of Science degree from Linköping University of Technology, Sweden, and a Ph.D. in Radio Communication Systems from the Royal Institute of Technology, where he is also adjunct Professor in Wireless Infrastructures. He is a Fellow of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA).

Frodigh joined Ericsson in 1994 and has over the past three decades held various key senior positions within Research & Development and Product Management throughout the generations of mobile technology.

from?2G?all the way to current research on 6G technologies. He holds 29 patents.

Harald Haas FREng, FRSE, FIEEE, FIET received his Ph.D. from The University of Edinburgh, U.K., in 2001. He is the Van Eck Professor of Engineering at the University of Cambridge and the founder of pureLiFi Ltd., where he also serves as the Chief Scientific Officer (CSO). His recent research interests focus on photonics, communication theory and signal processing for optical wireless communication systems. Since 2017, he has been recognised as a highly cited researcher by Clarivate/Web of Science. He has delivered two TED talks and one TEDx talk. He was awarded the Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award in 2017, the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society James Evans Avant Garde Award in 2019, and the Enginuity: The Connect Places Innovation Award in 2021. In 2022, he received the Humboldt Research Award for his research contributions. In 2023, he was shortlisted for the European Inventor Award. 

Dr. Venkatesh “Venki” Ramaswamy is Distinguished Chief Technologist for NextG at MITRE Labs in Bedford, Massachusetts, where he currently leads technical innovation and R&D activities in 5G/6G technologies. He has more than 22 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 is also an industry researcher at the NSF Edge AI Institute (Organization and Key Personnel | NSF AI Institute for Future Edge Networks and Distributed Intelligence (osu.edu)), where he explores synergies between networking and AI. He has published more than 50 peer-reviewed publications and holds numerous patents, served as a Technical Program Committee (TPC) member for various conferences, delivered numerous keynotes on 6G, and participated in several technical panels. He received his PhD in Electrical Engineering in 2007. 

Matti Latva-aho (IEEE Fellow) received the M.Sc., Lic.Tech. and Dr. Tech (Hons.) degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Oulu, Finland in 1992, 1996 and 1998, respectively. From 1992 to 1993, he was a Research Engineer at Nokia Mobile Phones, Oulu, Finland, after which he joined the Centre for Wireless Communications (CWC) at the University of Oulu. Prof. Latva-aho was Director of CWC during the years 1998-2006 and Head of the Department for Communication Engineering until August 2014. Currently, he is a Professor at the University of Oulu on wireless communications and Director for the National 6G Flagship Programme. He is also a Global Fellow at Tokyo University. Prof. Latva-aho has published over 500 conference or journal papers in the field of wireless communications. He received the Nokia Foundation Award in 2015 for his achievements in mobile communications research.

John M. Cioffi – Illinois-BSEE: 1978, Stanford-PhDEE: 1984; Prof. EE, Stanford, 1986-present, now recalled emeritus. Bell Labs 1978-84; IBM Research 84-86. Founder Amati 1991 (1997 purchased by TI); Chairman and CEO ASSIA Inc. Cioffi's specific interests are in the area of high-performance digital transmission. Awards include USA's Medal of Technology (2023), IEEE AG Bell (2010), Kirchmayer (2014) and Millennium Medals; Member Internet (2014) and Consumer-Electronics (2018) Halls of Fame; Marconi Fellow (2006); Member, US National (2001), UK Royal (2009), and Scottish Royal (2024) Engineering Academies; IEEE Kobayashi (2001), Armstrong (2014), and Women-In-Coms-Mentor (2018) Awards. Cioffi has served over a dozen boards of directors, presently PhyTunes (Chairman) and Marconi Society, along with Advisory Boards of VectorML and Zenith Aerospace. 800+ papers and 150+ heavily licensed patents.

As Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for Asia-Pacific, Magnus Ewerbring is responsible for driving technology alignment as well as long term technology strategies for Ericsson in Asia-Pacific.
Mr Ewerbring has been with Ericsson for more than 30 years and has held several senior executive positions within Ericsson R&D, the Business Units, as well as in customer accounts.
Mr Ewerbring holds a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from Chalmers University of Technology (Gothenburg, Sweden) and a PhD in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University (Ithaca, New York, USA).

Etienne Chaponniere currently leads Qualcomm’s involvement in all industry bodies related to the cellular industry. His career spans system engineering for modem implementation, R&D system engineering and standardization where he was a vice chair for the 3GPP layer 2 and protocol group, responsible for the evolution of HSPA. Recently he has been focusing on upcoming wireless technology evolution including in particular 4G evolution, 5G and spectrum sharing. Etienne holds a MS Telecommunication Engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne

Ulrich heads the Standardization activities for Nokia. He is responsible for global and regional standardization and technical regulation as spectrum. The team is part of the Nokia BellLabs CTO group. Ulrich is board member of the 5G Alliance for Connected Industries and Automation (5G-ACIA). He also is a VP and Executive Committee member of the Global Mobile Supplier Association (GSA). Prior to his current role Ulrich was responsible for Nokia Networks Industry Environment activities. Between 2007 and 2012 Ulrich lead the NSN 3GPP standardization team and has served as Head of Delegation to 3GPP. Between 1996 and 2007, Ulrich held various positions in R&D of Siemens Mobile Networks unit. He was responsible for standardization activities of the core network business unit and managed Siemens 3GPP activities. Ulrich had instrumental role in the definition of the UMTS architecture as well as in set up of project management in 3GPP. Ulrich holds a Ph.D. from Télécom ParisTech from 1996; his research area was the definition of 3G Radio Interface and his research was part of EU collaborative research program (RACE II ATDMA).

Dr. Rajkumar Upadhyay is CEO of the Centre for Developments of Telematics (C-DOT), a premier R&D Centre of the Ministry of Communications, Government of India. His previous assignments include working with Prasar Bharati, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), and the Defence R&D Organization. He has also been the Chairman of the working group on ‘Policy and Regulation for South Asian Regulators Council (SATRC)’ during 2011-12.

Currently, he is a Governing Council Member of the Telecom Standards Development Society India, Broadband India Forum, Telecom Export Promotion Council, Telecom Centre of Excellence, and a founding member of the ‘Bharat 6G Alliance’. He is also a member of the National Committee on Electronics Manufacturing and the National Committee on Telecom and Broadband of the Confederation of Indian Industry.

He is the winner of several awards, including the J.C. Bose award by the Ministry of Defense, the National e-Governance award by the Government of India, the CIO 100 award by International Data Group (IDG), and the Deepak C. Jain Award by IIM Bangalore. Under his leadership, C-DOT has won various awards, namely Voice Data “Telecom Person of the Year”, the IETE Corporate Award for Telecommunication, the ELCINA Award for Innovation in R&D Category, and the 12th Annual Aegis Graham Bell Awards across three categories for Disaster Management, Secure Messaging & Calling Solution, and Covid Quarantine Alert System (CQAS), as well as the ELCINA Defennovation Awards for innovation in Defence and many more.

Dr. Upadhyay holds a Ph.D. in Corporate Strategy & Policy, an MBA from IIM Bangalore, and an M.Tech. from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Roorkee.

Raghuveer is the CEO, MD, and Co-founder of Nivetti Systems Pvt. Ltd. Nivetti is a spin-out company from Infosys Ltd. and is India’s first technology company to create a world-class, Secure Network Operating System. Nivetti Systems has also designed, developed, and manufactured high-end IP/MPLS Routers, Ethernet Switches, and Cyber Security platforms.

Before Nivetti Systems was founded, Raghuveer was with Infosys Ltd. for 24 years. He joined Infosys in 1992 as a Software Engineer and was Vice President of the Communication Products division of Infosys when Nivetti Systems was created. Raghuveer has extensive global experience, having worked in the US before moving back to India.

Raghuveer is a well-known technology leader in the industry and has been actively involved in many industry forums. He is also a member of the IETF Screening committee of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology of the Government of India, a member of the security subcommittee to help formulate policy for Trusted Communications systems, and involved in global technology forums. Additionally, Raghuveer is part of the DOT DCIS evaluation panel.

Jagbir Singh is the Chief Technology Officer at Vodafone Idea Limited, one of India’s leading telecommunications services providers.

Jagbir is a veteran in the telecom industry with over 32 years of experience in providing technology leadership and strategic vision to all major Telcos in India and globally. As a member of the core leadership team of Vi in India, he plays a critical role in the strategic planning of the technology and network infrastructure for the company.

A seasoned professional in telecom networks and technologies, he is a strategic thinker and a team builder with in-depth knowledge and experience in managing the network life cycle of planning, engineering, deployment, and operations in both B2C and B2B segments.

Prior to joining Vi, Jagbir was the Group Chief Technology Information Officer at Smartfren Telecom, Indonesia, responsible for network, IT/digital platforms, and enterprise business. Previously, he worked as the Group CTO at Reliance Jio, helping it launch 4G services in India. Jagbir has also been associated with Samsung and later Airtel as Group CTO for more than a decade.

Jagbir started his professional career as a Scientist-R&D at DRDO and moved on to Lucent Technologies, where he pioneered exceptional business growth in all products, leading the India team as Technical & Pricing Head. He then moved on to an APAC role in Nortel as Director, responsible for network solutions.

He has also held several leadership positions in industry associations, including serving as a member of GSMA’s Executive Management Council, Chairman of the Technology Committee of COAI, and Founding Member of the Global TD-LTE Initiative (GTI) Steering Committee.

He holds a Master’s in Electronics and an MBA in Marketing. He has attended various leadership and management programs from Harvard University, Wharton University, and INSEAD Business School.

Rahim Tafazolli, Regius Professor of Electronic Engineering, was awarded this royal recognition to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. He has been a Professor of Mobile and Satellite Communications at the University of Surrey since April 2000, the Director of the Institute of Communication Systems (ICS) since January 2010, and the founder and Director of the 5G Innovation Centre since 2012, which is the world's first dedicated centre on 5G research and innovation.

Professor Tafazolli has over 30 years of experience in digital communications research and teaching. He has authored and co-authored more than 500 research publications and is regularly invited to deliver keynote talks and distinguished lectures at international conferences and workshops.

He was the leader of a study on “grand challenges in IoT" (Internet of Things) in the UK from 2011 to 2012 for RCUK (Research Council UK) and the UK TSB (Technology Strategy Board). Professor Tafazolli is regularly invited by governments to advise on national 5G research and strategy and was an advisor to the Mayor of London regarding the London Infrastructure Investment 2050 Plan.

In 2011, he was appointed as a Fellow of the Wireless World Research Forum (WWRF) in recognition of his personal contributions to the wireless world as well as heading one of Europe's leading research groups. He was also awarded the 28th KIA Laureate Award in 2015 for his contribution to communications technology.

Tommy Svensson is a Full Professor in Communication Systems at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden, where he leads the Wireless Systems research on air interface and wireless backhaul networking technologies for future wireless systems.

He received a Ph.D. in Information Theory from Chalmers in 2003 and has worked at Ericsson AB with core networks, radio access networks, and microwave transmission products.

Professor Svensson has been involved in top European and international research towards 4G, 5G, and currently 6G on physical layer algorithms, multiple access, resource allocation, cooperative/context-aided/secure communications, mm-wave/sub-THz communications, C-V2X, JCAS, satellite networks, sustainable design, and end-to-end architecture.

He has been the coordinator of the MSc program at Chalmers and is currently a board member of the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (PTS).

Dr. Halim Yanikomeroglu is a Professor in the Department of Systems and Computer Engineering at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada.

His research group has made substantial contributions to 4G and 5G wireless technologies; his group's current focus is the wireless infrastructure for the 2030s and 2040s.

His extensive collaboration with industry has resulted in 39 granted patents.

He is a Fellow of IEEE, EIC (Engineering Institute of Canada), and CAE (Canadian Academy of Engineering), and a Distinguished Speaker for both IEEE Communications Society and IEEE Vehicular Technology Society.

Dr. Yanikomeroglu has received several awards for his research, teaching, and service.

Professor Kiran Kuchi holds a position as a Professor within the Department of Electrical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad.

He spearheads research and standardization endeavors for 5G-advanced and 6G technologies on behalf of India at international standards organizations focused on shaping future communication systems.

With a prolific portfolio, Professor Kuchi boasts over 200 international patents, including some recognized as essential to 5G standards.

Notably, he is the founder of WiSig Networks Pvt Ltd, a venture incubated at IITH, where collaborative efforts between IITH and WiSig have led to the development and commercialization of 5G base station and user equipment (UE) technologies, as well as NB-IoT System-on-Chip (SoC) solutions.

Radha Krishna Ganti is a Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India.

He received his B. Tech. and M. Tech. in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, and a Masters in Applied Mathematics and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame in 2009.

His doctoral work focused on the spatial analysis of interference networks using tools from stochastic geometry. His research interests include digital communications, convex optimisation, and building communication systems.

He received the 2014 IEEE Stephen O. Rice Prize, 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 standardization activities and contribution to the LMLC use case in ITU. He was the lead Principal Investigator from IIT Madras involved in the development of 5G base stations for the 5G testbed project funded by DOT.

Prof. Ajit Kumar Chaturvedi received B.Tech., M.Tech., and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur in 1986, 1988, and 1995 respectively. He served the Department of Electronics Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi from 1994 to 1996. Subsequently, he joined as a faculty member in the Department of Electronics and Computer Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee. In 1999, he moved to Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur where he also held the positions of Head of the Department of Electrical Engineering, Dean of Research & Development and Deputy Director. He became Professor (HAG) in August 2012 and held the Sanjay and Rachna Pradhan Chair Professorship at IIT Kanpur from March 2015 before moving to IIT Roorkee in 2017. Prof. Chaturvedi served IIT Roorkee as its Director from January 2017 to October 2022 and has now come back to his parent institute - IIT Kanpur. During this period he also served as the Director of IIAS Shimla (January 2017 to August 2018) and Director of IIT Mandi (July 2020 to January 2022). Prof. Chaturvedi was Coordinator of BSNL-IITK Telecom Centre of Excellence which has done a large number of projects for the Indian telecom sector. He is a recipient of INSA Teachers award, Distinguished Teacher award of IIT Kanpur and Tan Chin Tuan Fellowship of Nanyang Technical University, Singapore. He is a founding member of the Telecom Standards Development Society of India (TSDSI). Prof. Chaturvedi was a member of the DoT committee which recommended criteria for spectrum allocation to telecom operators, in 2008. His research interests are in communication theory and wireless communications.

Prof. Alhussein A. Abouzeid, Program Director National Science Foundation, received Ph.D. and M.S. degrees from University of Washington, Seattle, in 2001 and 1999, respectively, and the B.S. degree with honors from Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt, in 1993, all in electrical engineering. From 2014 to 2018 he held a summer visiting Professor appointment with the Center of Wireless Communications, Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Oulu, Finland. From 2008 to 2010 he served as Program Director in the Computer and Network Systems Division of the U.S. National Science Foundation, where he co-directed the NeTS program and co-founded the EARS program for radio spectrum efficiency. He held appoitnments with Allied Signal (now Honeywell) Redmond, WA, Hughes Research Labs (HRL), Malibu, CA and Alcatel Telecom. He was the founding director of WiFiUS in 2011, an international NSF-funded virtual institute on wireless systems research, composed of 58 principal investigators from 29 institutions in the US and Finland. He received the Faculty Early Career Development Award (CAREER) from the US National Science Foundation in 2006, and the Finnish Distinguished Professor (FiDiPro) Fellow award from Tekes (now Business Finland), 2014-2018. He has served/serves as an Associate Editor for Elsevier Computer Networks, IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, and IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing. He is a member of IEEE and ACM and has served on the organizing and technical committees of several conferences.

Ashutosh Dutta is currently Chief 5G Strategist and JHU/APL Sabbatical Fellow at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Labs (JHU/APL), USA. He serves as the director of Doctor of Engineering program at JHU and Associate Research Professor at Computer Science Department. He recently served as Chair for Electrical and Computer Engineering for Engineering Professional Program at JHU. His career, spanning more than 30 years, includes Director of Technology Security and Lead Member of Technical Staff at AT&T, CTO of Wireless at a Cybersecurity company NIKSUN, Inc., Senior Scientist in Telcordia Research, Director of Central Research Facility at Columbia University, and Computer Engineer with TATA Motors. Ashutosh is a Distinguished Alumnus of NIT Rourkela with BS in Electrical Engineering, MS in Computer Science from NJIT, and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University under the supervision of Prof. Henning Schulzrinne. Ashutosh is a Fellow of IEEE, member of IEEE-HKN, and Distinguished member ACM.

Nandana Rajatheva (Senior Member, IEEE) received the B.Sc. degree (Hons.) in electronics and telecommunication engineering from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, in 1987, and the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada, in 1991 and 1995, respectively.

During his graduate studies, he was a Canadian Commonwealth Scholar in Manitoba. He is currently a Professor with the Centre for Wireless Communications at the University of Oulu, Finland, where he leads the thematic area of wireless broadband access in the 6G Flagship project.

He led the AI-driven air interface design task in the Hexa-X EU Project and is also active in Hexa-X II. He has coauthored more than 200 refereed papers published in journals and in conference proceedings.

His research interests include the physical layer in 6G, machine learning for PHY and MAC, integrated sensing and communications, and channel coding.

Gerard is a Full Professor in Telecommunications Engineering and has been Head of the School of Computing Sciences at the University of East Anglia (UEA) from 2016-2023, which involved a range of senior management roles and responsibilities covering Teaching, Research, Innovation, and Outreach.

He holds a PhD in Self-Stabilising Protocols from Ulster University, aspects of which were completed with University College London (UCL), and he was one of the founding fathers of the Internet (Professor Jon Postel) as a Visiting Research Scientist at the DARPA/University of Southern California Information Sciences Institute in Marina Del Rey, Los Angeles.

Within his academic career, areas of research include Self-stabilising Networks, Wireless Sensor Clouds, UAV for Disaster Response Communications, ICT for the Rural Economy, Converged Network Management, Control Protocols for Terrestrial and Non-Terrestrial Networks, delay-sensitive QoSLAs, energy-aware autonomic networking, and IoT-edge computing.

He has attracted several million pounds of external research and commercial funding and has advised governments on the allocation of funding to large-scale projects valued in total at approximately £3 billion. His industrial collaborations have included companies such as BT, Intel, ARM, Vodafone, IBM, Aviva, Ericsson, Siemens, InfoSys, Wipro, and SAP.

Professor Parr is an invited member of the EPSRC Peer Review College. His academic research collaborations include institutions such as MIT, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Arizona, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, USC-ISI Los Angeles, University of Florida, University College London, Southampton, Surrey, QMUL, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Trinity College Dublin, University College Dublin, University of Oxford, St Andrews, Exeter, Lincoln, Lancaster and Cambridge, as well as Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications (BUPT), Tsinghua University, Peking University, and Indian Institutes of Technology in Mumbai, Madras, Kanpur, Hyderabad, Delhi, Mandi, and IISc Bangalore.

He was previously appointed as a Visiting Professor to the Science Foundation Ireland/CTVR at Trinity College Dublin and to the Emirates-BT Innovation Centre (EBTIC) at Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi, UAE. He was the International Scientific Advisor to the UK EPSRC National Centre for Doctoral Training in Communications Engineering at the University of Bristol.

He was appointed as Senior Guest Editor for the prestigious IEEE Journal on Selected Areas of Communications (JSAC) for a Special Issue on Communications Challenges and Dynamics in UAVs. He has extensive experience working with developing economies, particularly India, where he was the UK Academic coordinator for the major EPSRC-DST India-UK Advanced Technology Centre in Next Generation Networks Systems and Services, which was the largest collaboration of its kind between the UK and India in the ICT sector, attracting a total investment of over £20 million and helping establish a Virtual Graduate Research School for 67 PhD students under the UKIERI Programme.

Presently, Professor Parr is working on the development of the East of England Smart Emerging Technologies Institute (SETI), one of the recommendations from the UK BEIS Science Innovation Audit, with colleagues from Essex, Cambridge, UEA, and BT Adastral. SETI will look at innovations in 5G, IoT, AI-Big Data/Cloud Computing, and Testbeds across a number of sectors, including Energy, Intelligent Manufacturing, AgriTech, and Smart-Supply Chains.

Gerard was awarded an MBE in the Queen's New Year Honours for 2018 for contributions to Telecommunications Infrastructure in Northern Ireland. During January 2020, Professor Parr was elected to the Strategic Advisory Committee for the UK Government UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) – Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) ICT Programme to assist with strategic developments, funding panels, and identification of funding priorities.

Most recently, Gerard has been successful in attracting Co-I funding for a 5-year EPSRC Next Stage Digital Economy Hub called DIGIT (Digital-Innovation-Growth-Impact-Transformation) valued at over £12 million, which will explore methodologies and business impact of Digital Transformation in Large Organisations. During 2021, Gerard was also successful as PI in attracting £1.4 million funding for the “UK-India Future Networks Initiative” with IISc Bangalore, IIT Delhi, UCL, Surrey, Southampton, and BT. Most recently, in December 2022, he was successful as a Co-PI on a bid to UKRI-ESRC concerning Digital Technology in Teacher Agency. The £5.3 million fund will support a total of nine projects. He is also a Member of the UKRI-EPSRC Digital Security & Resilience Advisory Group.

Dr. Parag Agrawal, is an Indian Telecommunication Service Officer belonging to 1997 Batch. He obtained B.E. from Kumaon University, Nainital, India. He has a vast experience of 22 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 Vishisht Sanchar Seva Padak Award in Department of Telecommunications (DoT), for meritorious services rendered in expansion of telecom network and services. In 2019, he earned his PhD in Business Administration with specialization in Enterprise Management. As Director (International Relations) at DoT (Hq), he coordinated various activities related to Multilateral and Bilateral of High-Level meetings and conferences in DoT, Ministry of Communications, Government of India and played significant role in Establishment of ITU Area office & Innovation Centre in India. He worked very hard diligently in India’s re-election to ITU council with highest number of votes (165) so far. He organized many International and Regional events in India and abroad. He represented India as Speaker at ITU, BRICS, Commonwealth Telecom Organization (CTO), APT, ASEAN and other Multilateral organizations/ International Forums and presented Indian perspective effectively in all these conferences and events. As Director (Telecom Enforcement) in Ministry of Communications, Dr. Parag Agrawal has been instrumental in development of Tarang Sanchar Portal, a unique initiation of transparency and creating awareness among general public regarding Electro Magnetic Radiation (EMR). He also played key-role in preparation of guidelines on Electro Magnetic Radiation from mobile towers, formulation of regulations and implementation of very important projects such as Mobile Number Portability and Aadhaar based activation of mobile connections in India and a number of other telecom regulations. During his early tenure, he was instrumental in rolling out various type of Internet and Broadband services along-with installation, operation and maintenance of major telecom switches of various technologies in Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited. He also served as Chief Vigilance Officer in Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation (2020-23), and briefly as Director (Planning & Monitoring) in Economic Research Unit of DoT (2023-24). Currently, he has been assigned the charge of Deputy Director General, Telecom Technology Development Fund (TTDF) since July 2024, to promote/ support and encourage start-ups, Academia and Industry as part of development of telecom eco-system in India.

Rajesh Sundaresan received the BTech Degree in Electronics and Communication from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras and the MA and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering from Princeton University. He then worked at Qualcomm Inc. on the design and development of wireless modems.

He joined IISc in 2005, where he is a Professor in the Department of Electrical Communication Engineering and an associate faculty in the Robert Bosch Centre for Cyber-Physical Systems. He has held visiting positions at Qualcomm Inc., the Coordinated Sciences Laboratory of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Toulouse Mathematical Institute, Strand Life Sciences, and the Indian Statistical Institute’s Bengaluru Centre.

His research interests include decision theory, communication, computation, and control over networks, cyber-social systems, and data-driven decision frameworks for public health responses.

As Group CTO, Erik Ekudden is responsible for setting the direction of technology leadership for the Ericsson Group. In 2017, he was relocated to Kista, Sweden, after nearly seven years at Ericsson in Santa Clara, California.

His experience from working with technology leadership globally will influence the strategic decisions and investments in mobility, distributed cloud, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things. This builds on his decades-long career in technology strategies and industry activities.

Ekudden first joined Ericsson in 1993, working on mobile systems research. He has served as research area director and vice president of standardization. During his career, his team created technology and multimedia functionality that are now used in today’s smartphones worldwide. This team also conducted some of the first work on virtual and augmented reality for mobile systems. He has worked to create global mobile systems for 3G, 4G, and 5G in close collaboration with customers.

He holds a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden. Ekudden has been a member of the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development since 2020.

Puneet Jain is a Senior Principal Engineer and Senior Director of Technical Standards at Intel Corporation. Within this role, he leads the Network Standards team, spearheading research and standardization efforts in the realm of end-to-end network architecture for cutting-edge mobile broadband technologies such as 5G, 5G-Adv, and 6G. Puneet is the current 3GPP TSG SA Chair. Prior to this, he served as the 3GPP SA2 Chair (2019 – 2023) and as the 3GPP SA2 Vice-Chair (2015 – 2019). Additionally, he has held key roles such as TSDSI Global SDO Task Force co-chair (2021 – 2022) and oneM2M Steering Committee Vice-Chair (2014 – 2016).

Sr VP Mobility Planning and Engineering with Reliance Jio. Having more than 37 years experience in different domains of Network Planning Engineering & Network Operations starting from Indian Railways (IRSSE) to Bharti Airtel, Tata Teleservices, Samsung and Reliance Jio.

Dr. Issam Toufik is the CTO of ETSI and Head of the 3GPP Mobile Competence Centre (MCC). He has more than 20 years of experience in the mobile communications sector, 14 of which are within the ETSI and 3GPP. He was active for more than a decade in the 3GPP Radio Access Network (RAN) groups. As CTO of ETSI, he is responsible for all the operational aspects of ETSI’s standards development activities. He is also responsible for the operations of the 3GPP Project Co-ordination Group and heads 3GPPs’ Mobile Competence Centre (MCC) which is an international team of 22 experts that provides comprehensive support to the Project.

Anita Doehler has extensive international experience in various business areas, including senior management positions with mobile network operators, vendors, and consulting firms. From 2016 until 2020, she held senior management positions at Accenture. Prior to that, she worked at Vodafone Group for 16 years, and also at E-Plus and Philips, among others.

Anita holds a Dipl.-Ing. degree in Telecommunication Engineering as well as an Executive MBA degree. Furthermore, she is a Systemic Business Coach.

Anita is passionate about driving technology innovation for the benefit of humans and societies and supporting the world’s leading operators, vendors, and research institutes. Since July 2020, she has been the CEO of the Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance (NGMN).

Jishnu Aravindakshan is Principal Architect Technology in the CTO’s office at Tejas Networks India Limited and has 20 years of experience in the field of Telecom.

He obtained his BTech in electronics and communication from NIT, Calicut in 2001 and a Master's from IISc, Bangalore in 2004. Subsequently, he joined Tejas Networks and is responsible for deciding the long-term roadmap of the company. He has represented Tejas at ITU-T SG15 and has contributed towards the development of ITU-T G.8032 and MPLS-TP standards. His present interests include 5G-Advanced and 6G.

He is actively involved in 5G standardization through TSDSI (Telecom Standards Development Society, India) at ITU-R WP5D, and as an Individual Member at 3GPP RAN1/SA2. He was closely involved in the design of 3G/4G backhaul architecture with major Indian and International operators. He successfully represented India and TSDSI during the IMT2020 standardization activity for the inclusion of LMLC (Low Mobility Large Cell) as a 5G evaluation configuration in Rural eMBB.

He was the founding Chairman of the Optical Access and Transport Study Group (SG3) in TSDSI, which developed the CPRI Fronthaul standard. Later, he continued as the Vice Chairman of Study Group - Networks (SGN) and coordinated the effort from TSDSI for including a 5G Radio Interface Technology (RIT) or 5Gi from India in ITU-R IMT 2020. Recently, he, as part of the Indian delegation, contributed to the ITU-R IMT-2030, also known as the 6G Framework/Vision document ITU-R M.2160.

He has filed 16 patents (12 granted) and was awarded the best paper award by IETE in 2006. He has edited the Springer’s CSI Transaction on ICT on a special issue on “Wireless in the Future” as a guest editor in March 2019.

Satish Jamadagni is currently Senior Vice President and head of Global Standards at Reliance Jio. He has about 25 years of industry experience in the telecom domain. He is the current Chair of TSDSI (Previously Vice Chair of TSDSI). He is active in 3GPP, GSMA (member of the Strategy Group) and in O-RAN alliance. Earlier he was a Co-Chair of the Asia Regional Operators Group; Small Cell Forum (SCF) and was on the board of the International Multimedia Teleconferencing Consortium (IMTC). He has around 200 granted patents in the wireless and network domain and around 30+ published papers.

Dr. Sreenath Ramanath is Director for Systems R&D. He comes with more than two decades of industry experience in design and development of algorithms for next generation wireless networks. He brings proficiency in GPS, Voice-band modems, WiFi, WiMax, LTE and 5GNR technologies. At Lekha, Sreenath leads a team of researchers to develop algorithms across all the verticals. In the past, he has held various roles at Accord, Ittiam, Philips and Beceem, served as Adjunct Professor at IIT-Bombay, Associate Researcher with LANEAS-Supelec and INRIA-Bell Labs joint research Lab. Sreenath is IEEE Senior Member and has several patents and publications to his credit. Sreenath has a Doctorate in Communication Networks from INRIA, France. Master’s Degree from IISc Bangalore and Bachelors from Bangalore University.

Thomas BASIKOLO is Programme Officer in the Telecommunication Standardization Policy Department of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Bureau (TSB). He coordinates and manages the ITU AI/ML in 5G Challenge and is an advisor to the ITU-T Focus group on AI-Native Networks.

Prior to joining ITU, he worked as a Research Engineer in the Engineering Department of Microwave Factory Co., Ltd, Tokyo, Japan. He received a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Yokohama National University, Japan.

He is the recipient of multiple Best Paper Awards, the IEEE AP–S Japan Student Award, and the Young Engineer of the Year award by IEEE AP–S Japan in 2018. He has co-authored peer-reviewed journal and conference papers, predominantly in the areas of wireless communications and antenna engineering.

He serves as a Reviewer of IEEE and IEICE Journals. His interests include machine learning, deep learning, artificial intelligence, and network science, and their applications in wireless networks, as well as how technology can be used to advance the UN SDGs.

David R. Koilpillai received the B.Tech. degree from IIT Madras, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA, all in electrical engineering.,In 2002, he joined the Electrical Engineering (EE) Faculty of IIT Madras. He is currently the Qualcomm Institute Chair Professor in EE and Dean (Planning). During 2008 to 2009, he served as the Co-Chair of the IITM Special Task Force for setting up the new IIT at Hyderabad. He also served as the Head of the Central Electronics Centre, IITM, from 2010 to 2011. His technical areas of expertise include cellular and broadband wireless systems, and DSP techniques for wireless communications. He is the Faculty Coordinator of the IITMSAT Student Satellite initiative. In 2007, he was on sabbatical from IITM and served as the Chief Scientist of the Centre of Excellence in Wireless Technology (CEWiT), a public–private research and development initiative of the Government of India, and was responsible for launching the national project Broadband Wireless Consortium of India. Prior to joining IITM, he was with General Electric (GE) Corporate Research and Development for four years and Ericsson USA for eight years, where he held different technical and managerial positions. In 2000, he became the Director of the Ericsson’s Advanced Technologies and Research Department, RTP, NC, USA, developing GPRS/EDGE handset technology. His technical contributions at GE and Ericsson have resulted in 32 U.S. patents, 10 Canadian patents, and 19 WIPO/European patents. His current technical activities are in the areas of cellular evolution—4G and 5G, smart grid communications, and DSP for high speed coherent optical communications.,Dr. Koilpillai received the Ericsson Inventor of the Year Award, the highest technical recognition within Ericsson, in 1999.

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Dr. Ravi P Gandhi is a renowned expert in the telecommunications, media, entertainment, retail, and e-commerce sectors, with over 30 years of outstanding experience. His leadership has played a pivotal role in transforming India's telecommunications landscape while driving significant innovations across other industries, including e-commerce and media. Known for his expertise in navigating complex technological and regulatory environments, Dr. Gandhi has consistently empowered organizations to thrive in rapidly evolving industries. His efforts have been instrumental in revolutionizing India's telecommunications sector. Currently, Dr. Gandhi holds key leadership roles, including serving as part of the Global Leadership Team at GSMA, Chairman of the ICT Committee of ASSOCHAM, Chairman of the Retail and Consumer Affairs Committee of the PHD Chamber of Commerce, and Co-Chairman of the E-commerce Committee at FICCI. He is also an active member of Nasscom's Special Interest Group. Dr. Gandhi's distinguished career began with the Indian Telecom Services, followed by his tenure as Chief Regulatory Officer at Bharti Airtel. He currently holds the position of President at Reliance Jio, Reliance Retail, and Jio Platforms, where he is known for implementing visionary strategies that transform technical and regulatory challenges into opportunities for growth and innovation. Dr. Gandhi holds a Ph.D. in Technology Management from IIT Delhi and a B.Tech from NIT Kurukshetra. His blend of technical expertise and strategic insight continues to drive innovation and make a meaningful societal impact. His career serves as a beacon for aspiring engineers and leaders who aim to make a lasting difference. Through his leadership, Dr. Gandhi continues to inspire a new generation of innovators committed to progress and transformative change.

Rahul Vatts is Chief Regulatory Officer (India & South Asia) at Bharti Airtel. He is also Director of OneWeb India and Vice Chairman of the Indian Space Association (ISpA) and the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI). He serves as a Board member at Indo Teleport Limited and Mobipro, which runs the India Mobile Congress.

As the Chief Regulatory Officer of Bharti Airtel, Rahul heads the Government Relations, Policy, and Regulatory interfaces across the company’s business spanning mobility broadband, DTH, Data Center, Submarine Cables, its international subsidiaries, and all Digital lines of business.

Rahul is the chair of GSMA’s Spectrum Policy Working Group (SPWG). He is also a member of GSMA’s Global Policy Group and the Spectrum Strategy & Management Group (SSMG). Additionally, Rahul is a Governing Council Member of various telecom standardization bodies in India.

A telecom industry veteran with over 29 years of experience with leading corporations, Rahul is an expert in Telecom & Broadcasting Licensing, Economic Regulations, Spectrum Management, and Regulatory Litigation. He has actively shaped public policy discussions across the globe in emerging areas such as data privacy, M2M & IoT, and content self-regulation.

An engineer in telecommunications from the prestigious Pune University, Rahul is also an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad and The Wharton School, Pennsylvania.

Seasoned and successful senior executive in the communications, digital media and tech sectors, with a proven record of developing and executing strategies in areas of public policy, external affairs and sustainable development. Highly effective leader of diverse and cross-cultural teams, with deep public and private sector experience. Skilled consensus-builder with expertise in international negotiations and demonstrated success in driving campaigns to influence policy change. Board Member of GSMA Mobile for Development Foundation, working to foster responsible business leadership and to leverage technology to deliver scalable and sustainable development solutions to reduce inequalities.

Dr. Edward G. Tiedemann, Jr. is a Qualcomm Fellow and a Senior Vice President of Engineering of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. He leads Qualcomm’s worldwide standardization and industry organization activities. Dr. Tiedemann was instrumental in the design and development of the TIA/EIA/IS-95 CDMA system, also called cdmaOne™. He led Qualcomm and much of the industry’s efforts in the design and development of the third-generation cdma2000® system. Dr. Tiedemann holds over 200 US patents and has participated in many papers, conference lectures, and industry panels. He currently sits on the board of several industry organizations. He is interested in multiple topics in communications including 5G, IoT, and V2x.
Prior to becoming involved with terrestrial wireless communications, Dr. Tiedemann was involved with numerous commercial and military satellite systems. From 1977 to 1988, Dr. Tiedemann was at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, where he worked on mmWave satellite communications systems.
Dr. Tiedemann holds the Ph.D. degree from MIT where he worked in the areas of queueing theory and communications networks. He holds the Master of Science degree from Purdue University and a Bachelor of Science degree from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Va Tech).
Dr. Tiedemann is past chairman of the Advisory Board of the College of Engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Va Tech). He currently sits on the Advisory Board of the Purdue University School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Dr. Tiedemann was General Chair of GLOBECOM 2015. He is also a member of the Board of Overseers of the Peabody Essex Museum.

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Dr. Sudhir Dixit is currently a Senior Fellow and Evangelist of Basic Internet at the Basic Internet Foundation in Norway and heads its San Francisco office. He has over 30 years of experience in computer networking and telecommunications, and related fields. From 2015 to 2017 he was the CEO and Co-Founder of a start-up, Skydoot, Inc, in the cloud-based and collaboration space. From December 2013 to April 2015, he was a Distinguished Chief Technologist and CTO of the Communications and Media Services for the Americas Region of Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Services in Palo Alto, CA, and prior to this he was the Director of Hewlett-Packard Labs India from September 2009. Prior to joining HP Labs Palo Alto, Dixit held a joint appointment with the Centre for Internet Excellence (CiE) and the Centre for Wireless Communications (CWC) at the University of Oulu, Finland. From 1996 to 2008, he held various positions with leading companies, such as with BlackBerry as Senior Director, with Nokia and Nokia Siemens Networks in the United States as Senior Research Manager, Nokia Research Fellow, Head of Nokia Research Centre (Boston), and Head of Network Technology (USA). From 1987 to 1996, he was at NYNEX Science and Technology and GTE Laboratories (both now Verizon Communications) as a Staff Director and Principal Research Scientist. Dixit has 21 patents granted by the US PTO and has published over 200 papers and edited, co-edited, or authored eight books published by Wiley, Artech House and Springer. He is presently on the editorial boards of IEEE Spectrum Magazine, Cambridge University Press Wireless Series and Springer’s Wireless Personal Communications Journal and Central European Journal of Computer Science (CEJS). He is Chairman of the Working Group C on new directions in networking and communications at the Wireless World Research Forum (WWRF), where he is also a Board Member. From 2010 to 2012, he was an Adjunct Professor of Computer Science at the University of California, Davis, and, since 2010, he has been a Docent of Broadband Mobile Communications for Emerging Economies at the University of Oulu, Finland. A Life Fellow of the IEEE, IET, and IETE, Dixit received a Ph.D. degree in electronic science and telecommunications from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, U.K. and an M.B.A. from the Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Florida.

Ashok Kumar is an officer of the Indian Telecom Service, Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Government of India. He joined this service in 1995. A career technocrat with specialization in Mobile Communications and the telecom and related ICT sector, he is currently working as Deputy Director General in the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Ministry of Communications. Presently, he is the Vice Chair of ITU-T Study Group 16, which develops standards for Multimedia and Digital services.

In addition to his expertise in telecommunications policy and regulations, he is an expert in 5G and other mobile technologies. During his tenure at the National Telecommunications Institute for Policy Research and Innovation, he designed and developed 30 courses totaling 40 hours on 5G Mobile Communications, which were published on the eLearning Platform (known as iGoT) of the Government of India. He has also conducted five batches of Online 36-hour/6-week Certificate courses on 5G Technology for officers of the Indian Telecom Service, other central/state government officials, and faculty members of engineering colleges.

Earlier, he worked at the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which was mandated to issue a biometric-based identity called Aadhaar to all residents of India. He contributed to creating enabling policies, processes, and guidelines to expand the ecosystem and keep it viable and healthy, resulting in the successful enrollment of over one billion people in India.

During his initial 10 years of service, he served in various parts of the country and contributed to the installation, commissioning, and operation of telecom networks.

Jeff is the CTO for Edge at Dell Technologies, where he leads the research and development of Edge technologies for Dell’s products and operations. His technology focus includes emerging AI applications for Edge use cases, complex distributed software system control, and resource management in distributed systems. He holds 14 patents in these areas.

Jeff has also held senior roles at an early-stage artificial intelligence/machine reasoning-based robotic process automation technology provider and served as CTO of Elefante Group, a stratospheric wireless communications platform. Additionally, he held senior positions at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Ericsson, and Alcatel-Lucent, where he led technology initiatives, solutions development, business development, and services delivery. Prior to this, Jeff worked at Cingular Wireless and BellSouth in technology and operations roles.

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Kumar is the Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Tejas Networks. He is a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering and has nearly three decades of experience in the field of telecommunications. In 2000, he received the Swarnajayanti Fellowship from the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, which is awarded to outstanding young scientists to pursue basic research in frontier areas of science and technology.. Kumar has co-authored the bestselling book titled “Optical Networks: A Practical Perspective” which is currently in its third edition. He also received the prestigious IEEE W.R.G. Baker Prize Paper Award in 1997, which is presented for the most outstanding paper reporting original work in the transactions, journals, and magazines of the Societies or in the proceedings of the IEEE. In November 2021, he was elevated to IEEE Fellow status for his extraordinary and continued contributions to the field of optical networking. He was the recipient of the ‘CTO of the Year’ award from ET Telecom in 2022.

Dimitra Simeonidou is a Full Professor at the University of Bristol, the Director of the Smart Internet Lab, and the Founding Director of the Bristol Digital Futures Institute. Her research focuses on high-performance networks, programmable networks, the Future Internet, wireless-optical convergence, 5G/6G, and smart city infrastructures. In recent years, she has increasingly worked on cross-disciplinary topics such as climate change and digital transformation for society and businesses.

Dimitra has served as the Technical Architect and CTO of the smart city project Bristol Is Open. She is currently leading the Bristol City/Region 5G and Open RAN pilots. Dimitra is a member of the UK Government Supply Chain Diversification Advisory Council, a founding member of the UK Telecoms Innovation Network, a member of the OFCOM Spectrum Advisory Board, and a founding member of UKTIN.

She has led major research projects funded by the UK Government and the EC. Currently, she is coordinating the DSIT REASON project, which develops blueprint architectures and technologies for 6G, and the EPSRC JOINER project, aiming to establish a UK-wide experimentation platform for 6G research and innovation. Dimitra is the author and co-author of over 700 publications, numerous patents, and several contributions to standards. She has also co-founded three spin-out companies developing solutions for connected smart infrastructures. Dimitra is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Ms. Devaki Chandramouli is a Bell Labs Fellow and Head of North American Standardization at Nokia. She serves as Next G Alliance Steering Group Co-chair and is the rapporteur and lead for 5G System Architecture specification in 3GPP. She also serves as a rapporteur for many key work items related to private networks, industrial 5G, timing resiliency and URLLC enhancements in 3GPP SA2.

Colin is currently the chairman of the board of the 6G Smart Networks and Services Industry Association (6G-IA), the vice-chairman of the board of the European Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS-JU), and vice-chairman of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) board. He has detailed knowledge and experience in the telecommunications industry, having worked directly or indirectly with many of the major players over a 30-year period. His roles have included software developer, technical consultant, technical marketing, standardization, and management.

In addition to his line manager roles, Colin has participated extensively in standardization activities at ETSI, ITU-T, and 3GPP, including instrumental work in creating and developing the TTCN-3 testing language. He has also been very active in the European research ecosystem, leading a number of award-winning European projects such as TT-Medal, D-MINT, and SEMAFOUR. Currently, Colin is the head of Research Alliances at Nokia.

Mohan Rao Goli is the Corporate Vice President (CVP) and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Samsung Research Institute India - Bangalore (SRI-B), the largest overseas R&D center under Samsung Research, with over 28 years at Samsung in various capacities.

Mohan currently heads the Communications Center of Excellence (CoE), encompassing the 5G/5G Advanced standards development and pre-6G research initiatives, as well as the 5G device and network advanced solution development. He was also instrumental in the 5G pre-standards research and testbed development at Samsung India, which culminated in the 5G commercial launch in worldwide markets.

Prior to this, he spearheaded global 4G and 5G R&D programs for Samsung Mobile business, closely collaborating with ecosystem partners across the world, including key contributions to the development of communication services. Mohan is also a key proponent of open-source development. In addition to the Virtual Core and Virtual RAN solutions, he oversees contributions to the Open-RAN development.

As CTO, he is responsible for the overall technology strategy of Samsung India. He holds over 20 patents in the communications domain, and his current areas of interest include advancements in next-generation communication systems, including AI/ML in wireless and XR.

He has received numerous awards such as Zinnov’s “High Impact Global Role” award in 2019, Zinnov’s “Best in Class CoE” award in 2022, the "Best Overseas R&D Employee" award twice from the President of Samsung Electronics, “CTO of the Year,” and “Zinnov Tech Role Model 2024.”

Niels König is the head and chief engineer of the department Production Metrology at Fraunhofer IPT since 2013. He received Diploma on Physics from RWTH Aachen majoring in solid state physics and biochemical engineering. After joining IPT in 2007 as a research scientist and contributing to several research projects in the field of fiber optic sensors, he took over the group Fiber Optics in 2010. Niels König is assigned for lectureship for “Optical metrology and Imaging” at RWTH Aachen University. Niels König is Board Member of the VDI/VDE Society Measurement and Automation Control (VDI/VDE GMA), Furthermore, Niels König is member of the Board of 5G-ACIA and also serves as Vice Chair of the Working Group »Industrial 5G in Practice«, while coordinating the 5G activities at Fraunhofer IPT since 2017. Since 2019 he is coordinating the 5G-Industry Campus Europe, a large-scale infrastructure for 5G in production.

Dr. Mallikarjun (Mallik) Tatipamula is a Chief Technology Officer at Ericsson Silicon Valley, bringing over 34 years of expertise in telecommunications, networking, cybersecurity, wireless, cloud, and AI technologies. He holds a Ph.D. in Information Sciences and Technology from the University of Tokyo, a Master’s degree in Communication Systems from IIT Madras, and a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Communications Engineering from NIT Warangal, India.

During 34 years of his professional career, Dr. Mallik has held leadership positions at F5, Juniper Networks, Cisco, Motorola, and Nortel, playing a crucial role in transforming innovative ideas into market-leading products. A recognized thought leader, he holds over 100 publications and patents and has delivered more than 500 keynotes. His leadership has driven the launch of numerous products and solutions, advancing the telecom industry.

Dr. Mallik has been instrumental in pioneering key 5G innovations, including network slicing, Control-User Plane Separation (CUPS), and distributed cloud technology, that are fundamental in scaling 5G networks for low-latency IoT use cases. Today, as a CTO at Ericsson, he drives early 6G research efforts, advocating for industry-academia collaborations and public-private partnerships.

He serves on several academic and industry advisory boards, including the Commonwealth Nations Steering Committee on AI. He has mentored over 100 university students and is a frequent guest lecturer at leading universities worldwide.

He has co-authored two books and has served on over 40 IEEE conference committees. Dr. Mallik’s accolades include CTO of the Year by the Silicon Valley Business Journal, Technologist of the Year by Total Telecom's World Communications Awards, and the IEEE Communications Society Distinguished Industry Leader Award. He is also an inductee of the IPv6 Hall of Fame by the IPv6 Forum and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and the Canadian Academy of Engineering. He has received honorary doctorates from Concordia University (Montreal), Carleton University (Ottawa), and Middlesex University (London).

Rajesh Kumar Pathak has done a Masters in Technology and has more than 37 years of experience in senior positions at the Government of India. Mr. Pathak is recognized for his exceptional contributions to indigenous manufacturing, technological innovation, and global collaboration. He was instrumental in setting up the Telecommunications Standards Development Society, India (TSDSI), driving technology standards and innovation.

Mr. Pathak's strategic insight extends to nurturing Indian start-ups and the "Make In India" campaign, fostering innovation. Prior to his position as Director General in the Bharat 6G Alliance, he was the Bharat 6G Mission Head in the Government and was instrumental in framing the Bharat 6G Vision statement. Leading the Bharat 6G Alliance with his forward-looking approach, he continues to shape India's telecom landscape, inspiring innovation, collaboration, and progress.