6th Asia-Pacific Spectrum Management Conference

Ms. Areewan Haorangsi took the post as Secretary General of the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity (APT) on 9 February 2015 after being elected by the General Assembly of the APT in 2014. She was re-elected in 2017 to continue her second term from 9 February 2018 for the next three-year term. A native of Thailand, Ms. Haorangsi brings to her post over three decades of service both in national and international stage.

Before joining APT, Ms. Haorangsi was the Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology of Thailand (MICT). Her long tenure with MICT included responsibilities for a variety of portfolios, i.e. Principal Adviser for Foreign Affairs, Executive Director of Policy and Strategy Bureau, Acting Principal Adviser for Communications, and Executive Director of International Affairs Bureau. She began her career in the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MOTC), Thailand in 1981 as a Technical Transport Officer. She was the Head of International Transport Group before joining MICT in 2003.

Ms. Haorangsi brings to her post over three decades of extensive experience both in national and international stage in MOTC and MICT. Her international experience included serving as Vice-Chairman of the Management Committee of the APT, Chairman of a Working Group under ASEAN Telecommunication and IT Senior Officials’ Meeting, and Chairman of Telecommunication and IT Sectoral Working Group under the ASEAN Coordinating Committee on Services. She had been Head of Thai Delegation to various international meetings under ASEAN, APEC, APT, ITU, etc.

Stefan Zehle, MBA, (CEO) Stefan is a co-founder of Coleago, was a Director Strategy, Marketing and Regulatory Affairs of a mobile operator. With 28 years telecoms experience, he is an expert in telecoms marketing strategy, spectrum valuation, and business planning. Stefan was responsible for many successful mobile licence bids and spectrum auctions and worked in 40 countries in developed and emerging markets. Stefan holds an MBA with distinction. Co-author of the Economist’s Guide to Business Planning.

Stuart is Director of Spectrum & Industry Affairs at Samsung and chair of the GSA’s Global Spectrum Team. Stuart has enjoyed diverse experience in both corporations and start-ups on the road to 5G, since he entered the industry as part of the UK government’s 3G auction team. Other roles have included: membership of Nokia’s global 3G technology and regulatory team; European regulatory and standards lead for 4G pioneer start up Flarion Technologies; part of Qualcomm’s European management and business development team for 4G, internet services, privacy and wireless power for electric vehicles and business development and marketing lead at wireless energy harvesting start-up Drayson Technologies.

I have been working in telecommunications sector for 25 years and taken a position of Director of Telecommunications Policy and Resources Management Bureau. I specialized in telecommunications policy formulation, spectrum auction roadmap and project management for spectrum auction.

I received Ph.D. in technology management and Economics from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden. I also held bachelor and master degree in Economics. I am now serving as a division director at department of telecom policy and resource management of the office of the national broadcasting and telecommunications commission (NBTC) in Thailand. My main responsibilities focus on ex-ante regulations in telecom service industry such as defining telecom market definition, designating a significant market power player, approving merger and acquisition submissions, and monitoring the level of competition in Thai telecom markets. I have experience in various issues at the telecom regulator. My recent experience includes designing spectrum auctions and spectrum valuation for 1800 MHz and 900MHz where organized in 2015, drafting and implementing the notification on telecom administrative fines, drafting telecom master plan 2017 – 2020, and drafting notification on spectrum refarming.

Scott W Minehane is an international regulatory and strategy lawyer/economist in the communications sector and has been involved in advising investors, operators, Governments and regulators in Australia, Asia, the Pacific and Africa for over 30 years. His expertise extends to policy, legislative drafting, regulation, spectrum management, national broadband network and new generation fixed and mobile technologies including 5G.
He is the principal of Windsor Place Consulting Pty Ltd an independent consultancy practice, through which he has advised a range of international organisations including inter alia the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the World Bank, the GSMA and ASEAN. He was the author of the June 2020 ITU GSR Discussion Paper on the telecommunications sector responses to COVID-19. He has advised Governments, telecommunications regulators, MNOs and other stakeholders in Australia, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. He is currently the World Bank spectrum adviser to the Indonesian Government and from 1 July 2020 to the Pakistan Government/regulator.

Prior to the establishment of Windsor Place Consulting in 2000, Scott was a Director and Principal Consultant at Cutler & Company (1993-2000) and worked in the Australian Government in the late 1980s/early 1990s on the introduction of telecommunications competition including the licensing of the second telecommunications operator and the third mobile operator.

Scott is an independent director of Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) listed companies selling wireless technology including waveforms and public mobile radio (PMR) solutions – Etherstack (ASX:ESK) being used for emergency services and first responders as well as online financial transactions – iSignthis (ASX:ISX).

Scott has a Bachelor of Economics (1986) and a Bachelor of Laws (1991) from the University of Queensland and holds a Master of Laws specialising in Communications and Asian Law from the University of Melbourne (1998). He currently resides in Melbourne, Australia.

Maritza Delgado is a Program Officer of the Environment and Emergency Telecommunications Division within the International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT). Maritza is responsible in the context of emergency telecommunications for supporting countries in the development of National Emergency Telecommunication Plans and their regulatory, policy and legal frameworks, in design and implementation of early warning and alerting systems, as well as in the development of projects, guidelines and reports for the inclusion and use of ICTs for disaster management and risk reduction. She holds a University degree in Electronic Engineering and Telecommunications and has over 13 years of experience in the field of disaster management.

Mr. Bharat Bhatia has over 45 years of experience in Telecom and ICT policy, regulations and spectrum management.

Mr. Bhatia is the President of ITU-APT Foundation of India. 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 is also a member of the steering board of WWRF.
Mr. Bhatia was the head of international spectrum team of Motorola Solutions Inc. where he worked for over 23 years in India and Singapore. 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 designed by him. 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. Mr. Bhatia has lived in India and Singapore and frequently travels all over the world to speak at various conferences and events.
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. Mr. Bhatia has completed a number of management courses from various institutes and universities including National University of Singapore and George Washington University.

Mr. U. K. Srivastava is Principal Advisor in Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, looking after telecom networks, spectrum and licensing. He is a graduate in Electronics Engineering and possesses Diploma in Management and has 35 years of experience in telecommunications sector.
He belongs to the 1983 batch of Indian Telecom Service and is trained in transmission technologies, including optical, radio and satellite communications. He has managed various telecom activities including operations, maintenance, training, quality assurance, standardization and policy. He has been a member of various standing committees on satellite communications.
He was deputed to ITU to serve in Iraq for two years and at ITU HQ in Geneva for a year and half.
He has chaired the National Working Group-5 of ITU-T for a period of six years and has convened National Working Group-5 of ITU-R for eight years. He has also been actively involved in National Preparatory Committee (NPC) meetings and finalization of National Frequency Allocation Plan (NFAP)-2011.
He has been associated with various standards development activities of ITU-T and ITU-R and has represented India in various conferences of these organizations. He also served as Vice Chairman of Study group-7 of ITU-R for a period of four years.
In the present capacity in TRAI, he is responsible for recommendation to the government on the issues of spectrum management, licensing issues of access, national long distance, International Long Distance, Machine to Machine Communications, Broadband, Satellite Communications, Internet Telephony etc. He is also responsible for laying down regulations for network interconnection, Interconnection User Charge, Mobile Number Portability, charges for Cable Landing Stations etc.

Agostinho Linhares received his PhD degree from University of Brasilia and his M.Sc degree from University of Campinas, both in Telecommunciations, in 2015 and 2003, respectively. Currently, he is Manager of Spectrum, Orbit and Broadcasting at Anatel (Brazilian Telecommunications Regulatory Agency), and Coordinator of the Brazilian Communication Commission for the Radiocommunication Sector (CBC-2). He is also responsible for the Brazilian preparation for World Radiocommunication Conference 2023 (WRC-23). He was head of the Brazilian Delegation in the WRC-15 and WRC-19, and vice-chair of the Radiocommunication Assembly 2019 (RA-19). Additionally, he participates in ITU-R and ITU-T Study Groups, and is the vice-chairman of PCC.II/Citel for the period 2018-2022. His research interests include sharing and compatibility between radiocommunication systems, human exposure to EMF and spectrum management.

Jon is currently a Senior Specialist at Group Regulatory Affairs in Axiata Group Berhad, one of Asia’s leading regional telecommunications groups based on Malaysia. Previously, he was the Head of Regulatory & Corporate Affairs at Smart Axiata Co., Ltd., the leading mobile telecommunications operator in Cambodia and a subsidiary of Axiata Group. At Smart Axiata, Jon led the development of advocacy strategies relating to a broad range of economic and technical regulations, and oversees the Company’s internal and external communication initiatives, as well as CSR and Sustainability programs geared towards shaping a positive perception about his company’s nation building agenda. A telecom engineer by training, with experience in the telecom sector spanning over 10 years, Jon’s previous role at the Axiata Corporate Centre included leading Group-wide regulatory initiatives such as spectrum, taxation, same service same rules and privacy, across the Axiata footprint while at DiGi Telecommunications Sdn. Bhd., he held technical roles like Project Manager and RF Engineer. Jon holds an MBA from the University of Strathclyde (Scotland) and a B.Eng. in Telecommunications from Multimedia University (Malaysia).

Ganendra Selvaraj is MEASAT’s Associate Vice President Sales. In this role, Gan will lead MEASAT’s sales activities including video, telecommunications and broadband solutions (CONNECTme) to customers in Malaysia and across the region.

Gan has over 13 years of experience with MEASAT and has wide-ranging experience across Commercial (Business Development & Product Development) and Technical (Pre-sales, Customer Support and IT Operations) aspects of the business. Gan also initiated the launch of MEASAT’s CONNECTme broadband services across Malaysia in 2018.
He holds a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Kansas. He also held the Project Management Institute accredited Project Management Professional certification while managing telecommunications projects; in a global IT company in the earlier years of his career.

Tare Brisibe, is Senior Legal & Regulatory Counsel with SES. He is based in Singapore and responsible for SES’s government policy and regulatory activities in the Asia-Pacific region.

Tare has nearly two decades of experience in the satellite industry, having previously served as Regulatory Information Officer for Inmarsat (UK) and Director of Regulatory Affairs for SITAOnAir (Geneva). He also served as: Chair of the Legal Subcommittee, UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space; Deputy Director (Legal), National Space Research and Development Agency of Nigeria; and Vice Rapporteur, ITU Study Group 1.

He holds multiple degrees, including a PhD in International law from Leiden University.

Dr. Walid Sami is Senior Project Manager at the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), Geneva, with responsibility for co-coordinating studies on frequency planning and spectrum sharing issues. He represents EBU in number of European and International Forums dealing with Spectrum Management. He is Vice Chair of ITU-R Study Group 6 (Broadcasting) and mostly active in Working Parties 6A (Terrestrial broadcasting delivery) and 1A (Spectrum engineering techniques). Dr. SAMI has also a significant role in developing cooperation with Arab States Broadcasting Union and African Union of Broadcasters as well as Administrations members of ITU-D.

Prior to joining EBU, Dr. SAMI worked in spectrum management and frequency planning of Digital Broadcasting systems at Télédiffusion de France (TDF) and CSA (Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel) in France. Notable is his 7 years as head of Television Planning Department at the French Broadcasting Authority, where he was in charge of planning Digital Terrestrial Television in France.

Dr. SAMI received Electrical Engineering Degree from the Lebanese University in 1986 and a Doctorate in Physics from Supelec / Université de Paris Sud in 1991.

Ms Linda Yu is an Economist by training. After graduating and teaching at tertiary institutions for a short period, Ms Yu joined the HKSAR Government as an Economist and has worked on many different fields, including microeconomic and macroeconomic analyses, manpower planning, logistics and port developments, etc., and spent most of her career time on telecommunications. When Hong Kong, China (HKC)’s local and external fixed telecommunications markets were liberalised in the 1990s, Ms Yu was instrumental in setting up the regulatory regime to facilitate competition, including that for universal service contribution, number portability, interconnection charge, etc. Since 2009, she has been working in the Office of the Communications Authority (OFCA) as the unified regulator of telecommunications and broadcasting sectors in HKC. Her portfolio of duties covered competition enforcement and in the more recent years spectrum-related regulation, including the re-assignment of existing spectrum used for mobile services and assignment of new spectrum for the provision of 5G services, which are all vital for maintaining a vibrant and advanced mobile telecommunications market in HKC. She is currently the Head of Regulatory Division responsible for licensing and economic regulation of all public telecommunications services.

Chris Hose is the Executive Manager of the Spectrum Planning and Engineering Branch within the ACMA’s Communications Infrastructure Division.  His responsibilities include spectrum planning for both radiocommunications and broadcasting, the development and operations of the AMCA’s spectrum monitoring capability, operational satellite network filing and coordination activities and international engagement on spectrum management.
He has been with the ACMA and its predecessor, the Australian Communications Authority, since 2000. Responsibilities have included the planning, filing and coordination of satellite systems, activities to address the unique requirements of government spectrum users (including as the ACMA’s Defence Liaison Officer), and leading the ACMA’s technical planning and evaluation activities as part of the digitisation of Australian television and achieving the digital dividend. Previously he spent a short period working for a power system consultancy company in Queensland.
Chris has a Bachelor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Queensland, a Graduate Certificate in Public Administration from the University of Canberra, and a Masters of Engineering Science from the University of New South Wales.

Mr. Murphy is Associate General Counsel for Viasat, a broadband services and technology provider. Before joining ViaSat in October 2015, Mr. Murphy was Vice President, Government Affairs, for eight years at Inmarsat, a London-based mobile satellite provider. Prior to working in the private sector, Mr. Murphy worked for a decade at the Federal Communication Commission’s International Bureau with responsibility for satellites and domestic and international spectrum and broadband policy issues. Mr. Murphy has served on numerous U.S. delegations to international conferences including several ITU World Radio Conferences, Plenipotentiaries, and World Standards Assemblies. Mr. Murphy is a graduate of the University of California Irvine, where he received a BA in political science, the University of the Pacific, where he earned his Juris Doctorate, and Georgetown University Law Center where he received two Master of Laws degrees.

Yiran Jin is Senior Manager of Standard and Regulation in Samsung R&D Center – Beijing and High Band Team Lead of GSA. He joined Samsung in 2012 and his main focus is regulatory and technical aspect of spectrum matters, especially for 5G. He is also leading standardization activities for wireless

Richard is director of spectrum consulting for LS telcom. He has 20 over years consulting and business experience working in the radio spectrum management, public telecommunications, digital broadcasting and satellite industries. He has worked for regulators, network operators, financiers, governments and end-users on issues covering national and international policy; regulation and its impact; pricing, auctions and licensing; cost modelling and tariff setting; planning and consultation; network specification and procurement; and digital switch-over. His work has been international in nature having taken him to every continent except Antarctica. Richard is also an experienced trainer having been running courses on spectrum management and policy for over 15 years.
In addition to providing consultancy advice and training, Richard’s career has embraced roles in a military communications company, as a transmission manager for BBC World Service and business manager for the UK’s largest broadcast infrastructure provider ntl: (now Arqiva) giving him a broad perspective on telecommunications and broadcast technologies

Dr. Anwar graduated (cum laude) from the department of Electrical Engineering (Telecommuni- cations), Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB), Bandung, Indonesia in 2000 for his Bachelor degree (S.T.). He received Master and Doctor Degrees from Graduate School of Information Science, Nara Institute of Science and Technology (NAIST), Nara, Japan, in 2005 and 2008, respectively. Dr. Anwar was in University of Melbourne, Australia, in 2007, University of Oulu, Finland, in 2010, and Cranfield University, United Kingdom, in 2018, as a visiting professor. In September 2008, he was with the School of Information Science, Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST) as an assistant professor. Since September 2016 Dr. Anwar is with the school of electrical engineering, Telkom University, Bandung, Indonesia as an associate professor and the director of the Center for Advanced Wireless Technologies (AdWiTech).

Dr. Anwar’s technique is adopted by the international telecommunication union (ITU), ITU-R standard No. ITU-R S.2173 ”Multi-carrier-based transmission techniques” also in ITU-R S.1878 ”Multi-carrier Based Transmission Techniques for Satellite Systems”. Dr. Anwar is the chairman of WG Radio and Technologies of Indonesia 5G Forum (i5GF) and also the chairman of Asia Pacific Telecommunity Wireless Group (AWG) Service and Applications (SA), 2016–2019. Currently, Dr. Anwar is the Vice-Chairman of Asia Pacific Telecommunity Wireless Group (AWG), 2019–2022.

Dr. Anwar received best student paper award from the IEEE Radio and Wireless Symposium (RWS’06), California, USA, in 2006, Best Paper Award of Indonesian Student Association (ISA 2007), Kyoto, Japan in 2007, Best Paper Presenter for the Advanced Technology in International conference on Sustainability for Human Security (SUSTAIN), Kyoto, October 2011, Indonesian Diaspora ”Award for Innovation”, Congress of Indonesian Diaspora, Los Angeles, USA, July 2012, Achmad Bakrie Award 2014, Jakarta, December 2014, and Anugerah of Internationally Recognized Contributions from the Governor of West Java, Indonesia, December 2016, National Achievement Award by UKP-PIP Pancasila, Jakarta, August 2017, and Best paper award in IEEE TAFGEN 2018, Malaysia, July 2018. Dr. Anwar also received best lecturer award of Telkom University, August 2019, and TYATB Award 2019 of Indonesia’s Award Winning Inventor, August 2019.

His research interests are network information theory, error correction coding, iterative decoding, coding for super-dense networks, signal processing for wireless communications and artificial intel- ligence for wireless communications. He serves as a reviewer for a number of main journals and conferences in the area of wireless communications, coding theory and signal processing. Dr. Anwar is a senior member of IEEE (Information Theory society, Communications society).

Mr Long an experts in radio frequency management, especially in terrestrial system such as land mobile, aeronautical and maritime radio communication systems. His knowledge in radio frequency management widely spreads from spectrum monitoring; technical parameter measurement and analysis to frequency assignment; interference calculation, analysis and resolve; spectrum planning and policy making. Mr Long have been leading the Aeronautical, Maritime and Radiolocation team in ARFM in preparatory works for the Word Radiocomunication Conference 2015 (WRC-15) and WRC-19. He is leading a 5G task group in ARFM to study and advise to ARFM’s Leader on 5G spectrum aspect and to Minister of MIC on 5G strategy for Viet Nam.

Mr Long have been actively participating in WRC-12 and WRC-15, Conference Preparatory Meeting for WRC-12 (CPM12), CPM15 and CPM19, ITU-R Working Parties 5A-5B-5C, APT Preparatory Group for WRC-15 and WRC-19 and APT Wireless Group with number of contributions to these meeting. I also had been actively participating in international meetings as the role of chairman of AdHoc Group, Drafting Group in APT Conference Preparatory Group for WRC-15; APT Wireless Group

Siti Hajar a Specialist Spectrum Policy, Group Regulatory Affairs, Axiata Group Berhad. Her main roles include providing support and regulatory advise on spectrum regulatory issues to Axiata Group and its subsidiaries. She was with Telekom Malaysia’s regulatory team, an incumbent fixed operator in Malaysia for 3 years before joining Axiata Group Berhad’s Group Regulatory Affairs. She has more than 10 years of experience being in telecommunication industry in Malaysia.

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.
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Brigadier General Md Shahidul Alam is the Director General of Spectrum Division of Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC). He completed B.Sc in Electrical & Electronic Engineering in 1998 from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) and M.Sc in Communication Engineering in 2005 from BUET.
Shahidul Alam has been playing his role successfully as the DG of Spectrum Division at BTRC since February 2018. His responsibilities include planning, assigning, ensuring proper utilizations and monitory of spectrum. He is also entitled to give permission and ensure quality control of wireless network, network’s equipment and import, export and manufacturing of equipment in Bangladesh. Besides these, he formulates, supervises and implements spectrum and deal with all types of wireless equipment related regulatory issues including guideline, instruction and quality control.

Dr. GUANGYI LIU, received his Ph.D. degrees in circuits and systems from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications in 2006. Since 2006, he has joined in China Mobile Research Institute (CMRI). Now he is the leading specialist of wireless in China Mobile Group and 6G director of CMRI. he has been the 5G director of CMRI and lead the 5G’s standardization, industrialization and commercialization from 2014 to 2019. He has also acted as the Spectrum Working Group Chair, 5G eMBB Program coordinator and LTE Evolution Program coordinator of GTI (Global TD-LTE Initiative) and lead the industrialization of TD-LTE evolution and 5G eMBB there from 2013 to 2020. Before he joined CMRI, he had worked in Siemens and Shanghai Bell (Now Nokia) for 4 years on 3G R&D.

He joined MIC in 2014, and started his career at the Tariff and Telecommunications Access Policy Division. From 2014 to 2016, he was in charge of competitive reduction of mobile phone charges and supportive measures for MVNO aimed at entering the mobile communications market. From 2015 to 2016, he worked for the General Affairs Division of Minister’s secretariat to check drafts of laws, and governmental and ministerial ordinances. He was sent to the Office of Assistant Chief Cabinet Secretary from 2017 to 2019. He served as the establishment of IT strategy for Japan and the policies for the national security of telecommunications including the deal against supply chain risks. After he returned to MIC around 2019, he contributed to the spectrum assignment of mobile telecommunications system and the promotion of 5G in Japan.

Dr. Heidi Himmanen is a Chief Adviser at the Finnish Transport and
Communications Agency Traficom. Her task is to promote uptake of 5G in
different sectors of the society, such as transport, cities and industry.
The work includes supporting trials, innovation and R&D, bridging the needs
of verticals and the development work in spectrum management. Heidi has
previously worked as Head of Spectrum Supervision and Head of Radio Networks
Unit at Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority (today Traficom). She
holds a D. Sc. (Tech.) degree in Telecommunications Engineering from
University of Turku, Finland, and a M. Sc. (Tech.) degree in
Telecommunications Engineering from Helsinki University of Technology (today
Aalto University), Finland.

Kai Sahala is responsible for 5G sales in APJ at Nokia. Kai is a widely known spokesperson in the mobile networks domain while specializing in the radio access sector. He has a Master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Helsinki and has close to 30 years of experience in telecommunications, with various roles in R&D, product management, business development, sales and marketing.

Amal graduated with BSc (Eng) Hons specialised in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering from Sri Lanka, MEng from the Technical University of Eindhoven, the Netherlands & PhD from Massey University in New Zealand.
He has published over 150 scholarly articles (peer-refereed technical journal and conference articles) in various journals including IEEE and IET digital libraries and transactions. He has held visiting positions at Tokyo University of Science (Japan) as a visiting associate professor and visiting professor. He was a Royal Dutch fellow of Netherlands and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS of Japan).
He has served on technical/programme committees, organizing committees and as track/session chairs for many international conferences. He was an advisor on many International conferences including CCBN conference in China, BES in India and BCA in Singapore.
Amal is a Senior Member of IEEE, Chartered Professional Engineer-CEng, Fellow of IET (UK) & Fellow of IPENZ (New Zealand).
Amal was active in many of the WBU-TC and ITU broadcast-related technical activities including as the Co-Chair of IRG-AVA of ITU-T SG9. He was Vice-Chairman of the WBU-TC from 2014-2018. He is an advisor to IET Vision and Imaging Professional Network having served as an executive of IET Vision and Imaging Professional Network.
He possesses more than 35 years of experience in all three sectors of broadcasting; viz. Academia, Research and Industry in senior broadcasting technology and ICT roles, including research and developments, regional capacity building in media and head of engineering of national TV-Sri Lanka, having started a career in computer engineering.
Dr Amal Punchihewa is currently a researcher at Massey University in two research centres. Some of his of research include disaster communication, earthquake detection and prediction, sensors, IoT, compression, AI, ML & DL, cybersecurity, inclusive media & learning, accessibility services for broadcasting and education. Amal brings his competency and expertise driving innovation of media and broadcast technologies, the capability to facilitate the formulation of technical guidelines and standards, providing expertise related to the convergence of media, and evolving technology needs in the best interest global citizens having a special focus on APAC and Pacific islands.

Seint Seint Aye is the head of Spectrum Management Division for the Posts and Telecommunications Department, the regulator of the Telecommunications Sector in Myanmar. She is mainly responsible for Planning, Management and Assignment of National Scare Resources (such as Spectrum, Telecom Numbers and Electronic Addressing).

Ms Aye previously worked for MPT (State-owned Telecom operator) as a regional engineer for PSTN telephone Switching Network and trainer in the training centre. She has been taking an important role in the reform of the Telecom sector which ends the monopoly of telecom market and creates competitive telecom sector.

She holds a Masters Degree in Advanced ICT from University of Ritsumeikan University, Japan and a Masters Degree in Public Administration from SungKyunKwan University, South Korea.