Celestino Alves is CEO of NMusic and Founder and CEO of MusicaOnline, the first Portuguese digital music store. From 2004-09, Mr Alves was Founder and CEO of record label About Music. Prior to this, he worked at TV stations TVI, RTP and radio broadcaster RFM.

Mr Alves holds a degree in communication law from the University of Coimbra.

From 2011 to 2012 Mr Beyrer was CEO of Österreichische Industrieholding AG (ÖIAG) and from August 2004 to 2011 he was Director General of the Federation of Austrian Industries (IV), alongside his role as member of the Executive Committee of BUSINESSEUROPE. Mr Beyrer was Director for Economic Affairs of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber, and has also been Chief Economic Adviser to Dr. Wolfgang Schüssel, Federal Chancellor of the Republic of Austria.

Before this, he was Economic Adviser to the Federal Vice-Chancellor, prior to that to the Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Austria. Mr Beyrer was involved in the negotiations for Austria’s accession to the European Union and the integration of Austria into the European Single Market. He also held various positions in the European Commission, the Austrian Permanent Representation to the European Union, and the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber.

He received a Masters in Law at the University of Vienna and studied Commercial Sciences at the Vienna University of Economics and Business administration. He has undertaken postgraduate studies in European Law at the Danube University Krems and took part in the Stanford Executive Program, at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University.

Robin Bienenstock joined Sanford C Bernstein in 2007 where she is the Senior Analyst for European and Latin American Telecommunications. Ms Bienenstock has been the #1 ranked European analyst (Extel) two years running, and headed the #1 ranked team (Institutional Investor). She covers 17 European and Latin American stocks.

Prior to Sanford Bernstein, Ms Bienenstock was an Associate Principal at McKinsey where she served telecommunications and retail clients for five years.  She also worked as an investment banker at SG Warburg; ran her own consulting firm for three years; and ran a revolving loan fund and a bus company in Bosnia Hercegovina in the two years prior to the Dayton Peace Accord.

Ms Bienenstock has a BA in politics, philosophy and economics from Oxford University, an MA in international relations from the University of Toronto and an MA in management and international economics from SDA Bocconi in Milan.

Wolfgang Bock is a Senior Partner and Managing Director, based in the Munich office of The Boston Consulting Group (BCG). He heads the Technology, Media and Telecommunications Practice in Europe, Africa and Latin America. He has more than 20 years of experience advising management in large-scale change programmes with a specific focus on growth strategy, business restructuring, post merger integration, operational excellence, and organisational design.

Mr Bock has authored a number of articles on the future of converged communications. He is frequently quoted by a range of publications, and is widely recognised as a subject matter expert. He is also author of the report "Reforming Europe's Telecoms Regulation to Enable the Digital Single Market".

Before joining consulting, Mr Bock held executive positions with Alcatel in Stuttgart and Brussels. He holds a Masters degree in business administration and industrial engineering from the Technical University of Karlsruhe, Germany.

Anne Bouverot is Director General of the GSMA and a Member of its Board. Ms Bouverot brings to the GSMA a wealth of experience and a proven track record of success in the highly dynamic mobile industry. With a deep understanding of the opportunities and the challenges facing mobile operators today, she leads the GSMA as the essential industry partner for its operator members around the world, enabling their continued success through driving innovation, providing thought leadership and advocating for the industry.

Before joining the GSMA, Ms Bouverot was Executive Vice President for Mobile Services for France Telecom Orange, where she defined the strategic transformation programmes for a business serving more than 120 million customers and revenues of more than €14bn at the time. Prior to France Telecom Orange, Ms Bouverot led a 600-person business unit of Equant and was responsible for developing IT services for Equant’s multinational business customers.

Jonathan Dann is a Managing Director and Head of Telecommunication Services Research, Europe within Equity Research at Barclays Capital. Mr Dann joined Barclays Capital in 2009. Previously, he worked at JPMorgan, where he was an Executive Director and senior analyst on the European Telecommunications team, which ranked No. 1 in the 2009 European Institutional Investor survey.

Prior to this, he was a Senior Managing Director at Bear Stearns, having started his career in 1996 in fund management. Mr Dann has a PhD in chemistry from University College London.

Ryan (Yun) Ding is CEO of the Carrier Network Business Group of Huawei Technologies Co and one of the Executive Directors of the Board of Huawei. In his role as CEO of the Carrier Network Business Group, he leads and oversees the group for its strategic directions, roadmap development as well as general operations to provide carrier customers with unprecedented products and solutions.

Since joining Huawei in 1996, Mr Ding has held several senior positions in succession within the company, including Chief Products and Solutions Officer, President of the Global Marketing Department, President of the Global Solution Sales Department, and President of Fixed Network Product Line, Core Network Product Line and Network Product Line.

Mr Ding holds a Master’s degree in MSEE from Southeast University in China.

Luigi Gambardella joined the Telecom Italia Group in 1999, in charge of relations with the National Regulatory Authority, and he is currently Group Vice President for Relations with International Institutions and Organisations. From 1996-99 Mr Gambardella ran the regulatory and institutional affairs for Olivetti. He is Chairman of the Executive Board of ETNO, the European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association. In addition, Mr Gambardella is BIAC Vice Chair to the OECD ICCP Committee; the President of EUBrasil, the association for the development of the relationship between Europe and Brazil; a member of the Advisory and Support Group of BUSINESSEUROPE; a member of the board of the Transatlantic Business Council; a member of the board of the European Internet Foundation; an associate at the European Round Table of Industrialists and President of Puntoit, the Italian association for the development of the digital economy.

Throughout his professional career, Mr Gambardella has contributed to all the phases of policy frameworks’ development of the European e-communication industry, including the development of the Digital Agenda and its latest reviews. Mr Gambardella graduated in economics from Bocconi University in Milan, Italy.

Peter Golob has more than 28 years of experience in telecommunications finance both as an analyst and in investment banking with an emphasis on strategic advisory, mergers and acquisitions and capital raising.

Mr Golob began his career as a research analyst writing reports on the incipient European telecoms sector as privatisation took hold and radically expanded the number of internationally listed telecoms companies. He took an early interest in the impact of regulation on competitive business models and the early mobile communications sector in Europe.

Mr Golob moved from research to investment banking in 1993 to advise governments and the new telecoms companies on privatisation in Europe, Asia and Latin America and has focused on advisory work with international telecoms companies across the world since then. Mr Golob was non-executive director of Portugal Telecom from 2003-07 and director of the Institute of Historical Research Trust from 2009-12.

Timotheus Höttges has been member of the Board of Management of Deutsche Telekom AG responsible for Finance and Controlling since March 1, 2009. From December 2006 until his appointment as Chief Financial Officer, he was the Group Board of Management member responsible for the T-Home unit. In this position, he was in charge of fixed-network and broadband business, as well as integrated sales and service in Germany. Under his leadership, T-Home became the market leader in terms of new DSL customers and developed its Internet TV service, Entertain, into a mass-market product while at the same time stabilising its profitability.

After successfully implementing various cost-cutting programmes at T-Home and in the European mobile communications subsidiaries, Mr Höttges became responsible for the Group-wide Save for Service efficiency enhancement programme. From 2005 until being appointed to the Group Board of Management, Mr Höttges headed European operations as member of the Board of Management, T-Mobile International. From 2000 until the end of 2004, he was Managing Director, Finance and Controlling, before becoming Chairman of the Managing Board of T-Mobile Deutschland.

Mr Höttges studied business administration at Cologne University, after which he spent three years with a business consulting company, latterly as a project manager. At the end of 1992, he moved to the VIAG Group in Munich. He became divisional manager in 1997 and, later, a member of the extended management board responsible for controlling, corporate planning, and mergers and acquisitions. As project manager, he played a central role in the merger of VIAG AG and VEBA AG to form E.on AG, which became effective on September 27, 2000.

Stephen Howard is Head of the HSBC Telecoms Research team, which has been ranked #1 in the industry for 7 consecutive years, 2007-2013 (Thomson Extel Pan-European Research Survey of professional investors), and which specialises in thematic reports analysing the sector's key regulatory, technological and competitive dynamics.

Mr Howard is also currently individually ranked the #1 rated European Telecoms analyst (Extel 2013). Mr Howard has covered telecoms since joining HSBC in 1996, having previously worked with IBM.

Philipp Humm is CEO, Northern and Central Europe at Vodafone Group. Previously, he led T-Mobile USA from November 2010 to June 2012. From 2009-10, Mr Humm was Chief Regional Officer and a member of the Executive Committee of T-Mobile International and from 2005-08, he was CEO and Chief Sales Officer for T-Mobile Germany. From January 2007-08, Mr Humm also served as a member of the Management Board of Deutsche Telekom's wireline division.

After studying business in Germany and at the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor, Mr Humm began his career in 1982 at Procter & Gamble. In 1985 he received his MBA degree from the IMEDE (IMD) in Switzerland. From 1986-92, he was with the consulting firm McKinsey in Germany and in Los Angeles, California. From 1992-99, he was an executive with the grocery retailer Tengelmann in Germany, where he became a member of the Executive Board in 1996 and in 1998 CEO of their food-discounter Plus. From 2000-02, he was an executive with the online retailer Amazon, where he held roles as Managing Director of Amazon Germany and France, and VP Europe.

Hakam Kanafani is CEO and member of the Board of Directors of Türk Telekom Group. He serves on the boards of the Group’s broadband communications unit “TTNET” and mobile communications unit “AVEA” and also as Chairman of the Board of Directors for Türk Telekom Group subsidiaries Pantel International Group, Argela, AssisTT, Innova and Sebit.

Before that he was the Chief Business Development and Synergy Officer for Oger Telecom. Previously Mr Kanafani was CEO of JAWWAL, Palestine's first private cellular network. He started his career at NASA, Goddard Space flight center.

Mr Kanafani is a University Trustee Scholar and holds Beta Gamma Sigma honours from the USA. He graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park and is a founding member of Young Global Leaders and Young Arab Leader. Mr Kanafani represents Türk Telekom Group on the Board of the Directors of GSMA, ETNO and SAMENA. He is in GTB’s Power100 list for telco executives worldwide and named best CEO for investor relations in Turkey in 2012.

Neelie Kroes is Vice President of the European Commission and European Digital Agenda Commissioner. Prior to serving as European Commissioner for Competition from 2004-09, Ms Kroes’ charity work included advising the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund and World Cancer Research Fund, and she has an ongoing interest in mental health issues. After politics MsKroes was appointed President of Nyenrode University from 1991 – 2000, and served on various company boards, including Lucent Technologies, Volvo, and P&O Nedlloyd.

From 1982-89 Ms Kroes served as Minister for Transport, Public Works and Telecommunication in the Netherlands. Her political career started on the Rotterdam Municipal Council, and in 1971 she was elected as a Member of the Dutch Parliament for the liberal VVD party. Ms Kroes was born in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, where she also attended school and helped to build her family’s transport business. She studied economics at Erasmus University, before working there for six years as an Assistant Professor.

Kati Levoranta is the Chief Legal Officer at Rovio Entertainment, responsible for guiding the company’s legal affairs. She previously held several positions at Nokia and Nokia Siemens Networks, the latest being Head of Global Commercial Transactions, Legal and Compliance. Ms Levoranta studied at Turku University and Columbia University and received an MBA from Helsinki School of Economics.

Appointed by the Swedish Government, Göran Marby is the Director-General of the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (PTS) since January 1, 2010. Mr Marby is a Board Member and a Vice Chair of BEREC (Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications), where he will be the Chair 2014. He was also Board Member and Vice Chair for BEREC during 2012. During 2012 he was Chair of the ERGP (European Regulators Group for Postal Services) and currently he is Vice Chair of the organisation.

Mr Marby has more than 15 years of working experience in the IT Sector. Prior to his current position he co-founded AppGate Network Security AB where he served as CEO between 2002-09. He has held several executive positions within the IT sector, namely: CEO of Cygate, Country Manager of Cisco Sweden and CEO of Unisource Sweden. Mr Marby holds an MSc in finance from the University of Gothenburg, School of Business, Economics and Law.

Daniel Pataki, former President of Hungary’s National Communications Authority, the European Regulators Group (ERG) and the EU’s Radio Spectrum Policy Group (RSPG) became ETNO’s new Director in February 2012.

Mr Pataki was President of Hungary’s National Communications Authority from 2004 until 2010. During his term, he was in charge of regulation of the electronic communications and postal sector as well as spectrum allocation. In 2008 he was Chairman of the ERG and of the International Regulators Group (IRG). In this capacity, he played a key role in advising EU institutions during the review of the EU Regulatory framework. From November 2008 until November 2009, he was Chairman of the Radio Spectrum Policy Group, an advisory body to the European Commission on spectrum policy, composed of the 27 EU national spectrum regulatory bodies. Prior to working in the regulatory authority, Mr Pataki was Hungary’s Deputy State Secretary in charge of Communications at the Ministry of IT and Telecommunications, from 2002-03. Before that, he held several positions in the private sector.

A Hungarian national, Mr Pataki graduated from the Budapest University of Economic Sciences and holds a postgraduate degree from Programme Copernic organised by leading French institutions such as Science Po, École des Mines, and École des Ponts, Paris. He also finished an undergraduate management programme (CEMS) at HEC. He was awarded the Officer Cross of the Order of the Republic of Hungary in 2009 for his work in EU electronic communications regulation and the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary in 2005 for his work promoting the development of the ICT sector.

Stéphane Richard has been Chairman and CEO of Orange since March 1, 2011. He joined the Group in September 2009 and was appointed Deputy CEO with responsibility for French operations on October 5, 2009. He became a corporate officer as CEO Delegate on January 1, 2010, and was appointed as CEO of Orange on March 1, 2010.

Between 1992 and 2003, Mr Richard was deputy to the Chief Financial Officer of Compagnie Générale des Eaux, CEO of Compagnie Immobilière Phénix, and Chairman of CGIS (Compagnie Générale d’Immobilier et de Services), now Nexity. From 2003-07, he was Deputy CEO of Veolia Environnement and CEO of Veolia Transport, and was a director of France Telecom-Orange during this period. Between 2007 and 2009, he was Chief of Staff to the French Minister for the Economy, Industry, and Employment.

Mr Richard is a graduate of École des Hautes Études Commerciales and École Nationale d’Administration.

Randall Stephenson became Chairman and CEO of AT&T Inc. in 2007, and in the years following he has transformed the company into a global leader in mobile Internet services and IP-based business communications solutions. AT&T is today the world’s largest telecommunications company with more than $127bn in 2012 revenues. Over the past five years, AT&T has invested more capital into the U.S. economy than any other public company.

Mr Stephenson began his career with Southwestern Bell Telephone in 1982. From 2001-04, he was the company’s Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, and from 2004-07, he served as the company’s Chief Operating Officer. He was appointed to AT&T’s board of directors in 2005.

Mr Stephenson received his BSc in accounting from the University of Central Oklahoma, and his Master of Accountancy from the University of Oklahoma.

Dan Thomas was appointed Telecoms Correspondent for the Financial Times in 2011, having previously worked as the Property Correspondent from 2008. Mr Thomas has also reported for FT Money, the FT Weekend personal finance supplement. Prior to joining the FT in March 2007, he was an assistant editor for Property Week.

Mr Thomas holds a postgraduate degree in journalism from City University and a BA hons in English and Philosophy from Manchester University. He was named the Headline Property Business Journalist of the Year in 2008, and in 2006 he was awarded IPB Business Journalist of the Year. He appears regularly on national broadcast stations.

Ben Verwaayen was appointed CEO of Alcatel-Lucent on 1 September 2008, a position he left on 1 May 2013. Previously, Mr Verwaayen was appointed to the Board of Directors of BT on January 14, 2002 and became Chief Executive on 1 February 2002. He left BT Group on 1 June 2008 as Chairman of the Board’s Operating Committee.

Before joining BT Group, Mr Verwaayen was at Lucent Technologies starting September 1997, holding various positions. He left Lucent as Vice Chairman of the Management Board. Other positions that he held at Lucent were Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer, and Executive Vice-President, International. Prior to joining Lucent, he worked for KPN in the Netherlands for nine years as President and Managing Director of its subsidiary PTT Telecom. From 1975-88, he worked at ITT in Europe.

Mr Verwaayen is a member of the board of AKZONobel and the World Economic Forum. He has also been made an Officer of the Orange Order-Nassau and an Honorary Knight of the British Empire (KBE) and has received the Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur medal. He is a Dutch national and graduated with a Master's degree in law and international politics from the State University of Utrecht, Holland.

Hannes Wittig heads the JPMorgan Cazenove European telecoms research team. He covers a number of European telecoms operators, including Iliad, QSC, Kabel Deutschland, Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom, some of which have embarked on substantial efficiency drives in recent years. Major thematic publications include ‘The Fibre Battle’ (December 2006), ‘The Power of Mobile Broadband’ (May 2008), European fibre ‘Signs of Life’ (September 2012) and LTE ‘The Next Generation of Mobile’ (March 2012). He has also published extensively on single market issues.

Prior to his work as an equity research analyst, Mr Wittig worked for McKinsey & Co. in various industries, including manufacturing, retail, broadcasting and electronics and various countries, including Germany, Italy, France, Austria and the US. He holds degrees in politics, economics, and philosophy.