Panel Discussion on Introduction to WhiteSpaces followed by Q&A – The Panel will Provide a Quick Introduction on what are WhiteSpaces and how they may be used to Realize the Vision of Digital India

Chief Guest: Shri NK Yadav, Member Services, Ex Officio Secretary Govt. of India and CMD MTNL

Session Chair: Darrell Owen (USAID, USA)

Panelists: Rashmi Doshi (FCC, USA), Prof. H. Nwana (DSA, UK), Davood Molkdar (iconectiv, USA), Jim Carlson (Carlson Wireless, USA), Kentaro Ishizu (Group Leader, NICT, Japan), Dr. Oh Ser Wah (I2R, Singapore)

IIT-Bombay and Tata Communications will provide the Field Test Results from their Commercial WhiteSpace Pilots in Palghar and Haryana (India)

Panel on WSA WhiteSpace Strategy in India

Chief Guest: Shri Peeyush Aggarwal, Member Technology, Ex officio Secretary to Government of India.

Session Chair: Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala, IIT, Chennai

Session Co-Chair: Shri Sudhir Gupta, Secretary, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)

Panelists: Prof. Abhay Karandikar (IIT-Bombay, India), Kalyan Pal (VP, Tata Communications, India), Parag Naik (CEO Saankhya Labs, India), Arun Jacob (United Nations, Geneva), Prashant Shukla (National Technology Officer, Microsoft), Dr Ashok Chandra, (Former Wireless Advisor, Government of India)

Various WhiteSpace Chipset, Device and Database Vendors will Showcase their Offerings

Session Chair: B. Shadrach (Alliance for Affordable Internet)

Session Co-Chair: Shri B. M. Baveja, Senior Director and Group Coordinator, Department of Electronics and IT( DeitY)

Panelists: Sameer Wasson (General Manager, Texas Instruments, USA), Anindya Saha (CTO, Saankhya Labs, India), Jim Carlson (Carlson Wireless, USA), Kentaro Ishizu (Group Leader, NICT, Japan), Davood Molkdar (iconectiv, USA), D. A. Tambe (Chief General Manager (IT), State Bank of India)

Regulators from Several Nations will describe their Approaches to WhiteSpace Regulations and Spectrum Sharing in General.

Session Chair: Dr. Malcolm Johnson (Deputy Secretary General - International Telecommunications Union - Geneva)

Session Co-Chair: Shri Parmeshwaran, Principal Advisor, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)

Panelists: Rashmi Doshi (FCC), Prof. H. Nwana (DSA / Ex UK OfCom), Arun Jacob (United Nations, Geneva), Dr. Oh Ser Wah (I2R, Singapore), Shri R. K Pathak, Deputy Director General (IC) – Director TCOE

Welcome by Prof NK Goyal and Felicitation of VIPs

Welcome by Dr. Apurva N. Mody, Chairman of the WSA

Video - WhiteSpace Field Trials Results from Palghar and Jaunty, the Adopted Village of Dr. Raj will be Presented - Video Presentation

Address by Shri Anupam Srivastava, CMD, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL)

Address by Ms. Vijaylakshmi K Gupta, Member, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)

Guest of Honour, Honourable Member of Parliament, India, Dr. Udit Raj, will describe the Government’s plan for connecting the Nation’s 1.3 Billion Citizens.

Address by Dr. Malcolm Johnson (Deputy Secretary General - International Telecommunications Union - Geneva)

Guest of Honour, Minister of State for Science and Technology, Shri Y. S. Chowdary, India

Address by Secretary of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (Invited)

Address by Guest of Honour, Minister of Information & Broadcasting - Mr. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (Invited)

Address by Chief Guest, Minister of Communications and Information Technology - Mr. Ravishankar Prasad (Invited)

Vote of Thanks - Prof N. K. Goyal and Dr. Apurva N. Mody

International Panel Discussion on how Spectrum Sharing can be used to Provide Wide Variety of Services – From Digital Inclusion to Smart Cities to Internet of Things

Session Chair: Prof. Monisha Ghosh (University of Chicago, USA)

Session Co-Chair: Shri O. P. Sharma, Additional Director General, Prashar Bharati

Panelists: Darrell Owen (USAID, USA), Jim Carlson (Carlson Wireless, USA), Hemant Mallapur (Vice President, Saankhya Labs), Chris Weasler (Facebook, internet.org, USA), Pankaj Sharma (I2R, Singapore), Sh. Arvind Chawla (DDG TEC)

Panel Members will Summarize the Outcomes of the Summit and Define Next Steps

Discussions and Q&A

Session Chair: Sh. A. K. Mittal, Senior, Deputy Director General, TEC, Govt. of India

Session Co-chair: Shri Sudhir Gupta, Secretary, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)

Panelists: Darrell Owen (USAID), Shyam Ponappa (Distinguished Fellow, Spectrum Policy, Center for Internet and Society), Dr. Apurva N. Mody (WhiteSpace Alliance)

Popularly known as Sujana Chowdary, YS Chowdary was an industrialist by profession. He has been elected the Minister of State for Science and Technology and Earth Science. Founder and Chairman of the Sujana Group of Industries, he belongs to the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh. Considered very close to the Andhra CM Chandrababu Naidu, he was also Naidu's first choice when PM Narendra Modi asked him to nominate a person from his party for a cabinet berth. Born in 1961, he earned his Masters in Engineering before spearheading the Sujana Group of companies. He also belongs to a family of government officers. He served a number of important portfolios not only at the state-level, but also at the national level. He was one of the strongest leaders in TDP and was a major force against the division of Andhra Pradesh. He drew the attention of the Rajya Sabha during the debate on the state reorganisation bill. Later, he was also appointed the head of the resources management committee for pooling financial resources for the state after its bifurcation. He also gained prominence as a part of the panel to advise government on the development of new state capital.

Udit Raj is the Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha), from North-west Delhi constituency and National Chairman, All India Confederation of SC/ST Organizations. He is one of the most influential leaders of the BJP and a strong dalit leader. He is also an Indian Social Activist and member of National Executive (Special invitee) of Bharatiya Janata Party. He was born in Ramnagar, Uttar Pradesh and studied for BA at Allahabad University. He took admission at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi in 1980. He was selected for the prestigious Indian Revenue Service in 1988 and served as the Dy, Commissioner, Joint Commissioner and Addl. Commissioner of Income Tax at New Delhi. In November 2003 he formed a political party namely Indian Justice Party. He has joined Bharatiya Janata Party on 23 February 2014 in the presence of senior political leaders of BJP

Malcolm Johnson was elected Deputy Secretary-General of the ITU on 24 October 2014 and started his mandate on 1 January 2015. From 2007 to 2014, he served as Director of ITU's Telecommunication Standardization Bureau (TSB). In this post, he spearheaded activities in cybersecurity, climate change and accessibility. He increased the involvement of developing countries and academia in ITU’s standards activities, introduced free downloading of ITU–T Recommendations, and initiated a programme to address developing-country concerns over lack of interoperability and conformity to ITU standards. He achieved a threefold increase in the activities of ITU’s Telecommunication Standardization Sector without increasing its budget. Between 2003 and 2006, Mr Johnson was International Coordinator at the United Kingdom’s Office of Communications (Ofcom), where he had lead responsibility for the United Kingdom in ITU and in CEPT. From 1992 to 2003, he was Director of the United Kingdom’s Radiocommunications Agency and European Coordinator for WRC 93, WRC 95 and WRC 97. Between 1988 and 1992, he worked in the European Commission’s Telecommunication Regulations Division, where he represented the Commission in the Council of the European Union, EU Parliament, CEPT and ITU. Born in Trallwng, Wales, United Kingdom. Mr Johnson graduated from the University of Wales, Cardiff, with MSc and BSc (1st class honours) degrees in 1976. He is a Chartered Engineer, a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, and an Academician of the International Telecommunication Academy. He is fluent in English and French, and has some knowledge of Spanish. He is married, with one daughter.

Prashant Shukla is National Technology Officer for Microsoft in India. Over the last 25 years, Prashant has held senior leadership position in both, USA and India, spanning across a host of disciplines - marketing, sales, product management and software development. At Microsoft, Prashant held number of important assignments that included driving Microsoft’s eCommerce Initiative, running Microsoft Developer Initiative and later as General Manager, working in Microsoft IT India. In India, Prashant led CMC Limited, a well-known Tata Enterprise as its Chief Operating Officer. Under his leadership, CMC resurged to new heights, reaching newer customers, becoming more profitable and attaining higher stock price and shareholder value. Prashant also worked at TechMahindra/ Mahindra Satyam as Senior Vice President. Here, he and his several thousand people strong team ran the core industry verticals for the company - Retail, Banking, Financial Services, Insurance, Manufacturing, Aerospace, Automobile, and Pharmaceuticals. Prior to this, in mid-1990s, Prashant worked for another leading software industry giant, Novell Inc. in US as the Product Line Manager for their flagship product, Netware. Raised in India, Prashant graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. Later he pursued as MBA degree from USA. An ardent academic, Prashant co-authored a book on “Atomic Electronic Structure”, used as a reference in graduate courses, published by Prentice Hall.

Arun Jacob is currently an Economist at the Science and Technology Section of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). As part of his current role, he also works for the secretariat of the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development. Prior to joining the UN Civil Service, he worked with the President's Office of Tanzania and specifically assisted in the preparation of the five year plan and long term economic development plan of Tanzania. He has also been a consultant for different UN agencies and some leading Economic Consultancies. He holds an MPhil degree in Economics from the University of Cambridge, where he was a Gates Scholar.

Prof. Goyal, Senior ICT Professional & Educationist is Post Graduate in Science with experience of about 45 years in ICT & Education. He is President, CMAI Association of India (CMAI), which is Asia’s largest ICT Association with 48,500 members and 54 MOU partners worldwide. Prof. Goyal is the only person in the world having joined six consecutive years the Ribbon Cutting and inauguration of world’s largest Consumer Electronic show called CES, Las Vegas, USA. Prof Goyal is actively involved in policy formulations and development of industrial policies specially related to Education, Telecom, and mobile, Cyber Security, ICT and Skills Development Sector. He is member of more than hundred committees/groups formed by Government in this behalf. He is also Member Governing Council, Government of India, Telecom Equipment & Services Export Promotion Council, to promote exports under Ministry of Commerce and Industries. Prof Goyal is also Chairman Emeritus of Telecom Equipments Manufacturers Association of India (TEMA); Vice Chairman, ITU APT India; Chairman CTIA, India; Ambassador for India and South Asia, Commonwealth Telecom Organization, UK; President Cyber Security Association of India( CSAI); President Association of Educational Institutes and Universities( AEIU); Chairman of India Trade Promotion Services, Dubai.

Dr. Apurva N. Mody is the Founding Chairman of the WhiteSpace Alliance. He is also the Chairman of the IEEE 802.22 Working Group (WG) on Wireless Regional Area Networks (WRANs) (www.ieee802.org/22). The IEEE 802.22 Wi-FAR(TM) Standard will enable regional and rural broadband wireless access serving more than 3.5 Billion people. Under Dr. Mody' s leadership, the IEEE 802.22 WG is the recipient of the IEEE SA Emerging Technology Award. Dr. Mody is also the recipient of the IEEE SA Medal for his Contributions to Alleviating the Digital Divide. Dr. Mody received his Ph. D. in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology. He has contributed to the field of Machine Learning based Cognitive Communications and Spectrum Sharing Technologies. He is an invited speaker at many Government and commercial events. He has published more than 50 conference and journal publications and is an author of more than 15 US and international patents. Dr. Mody is the Senior Member of the IEEE, President' s Fellow while at Georgia Tech, Member of Tau Beta Pi and Eta Kappa Nu Honor Societies.

As Executive Director of the Dynamic Spectrum Aillance, H Nwana assists with the development and execution of the organization’s strategic initiatives and outreach to and recruitment of potential partners and members across the private, public, and non-profit sectors. Prior to joining the Alliance, Nwana was Group Director of Spectrum Policy at Ofcom, where he ran UK’s Spectrum Policy and spearheaded UK’s dynamic spectrum management activities, specifically focusing on TV White Spaces for broadband and other applications. While at Ofcom, Nwana was responsible for multi-million pound policy projects including the UK’s Digital TV Clearance programme (part of UK’s digital switchover programme) which concluded in 2013. Nwana also oversaw the UK 4G auction that raised billions and concluded in February 2013. Before this, Nwana was Managing Director at Arqiva and earlier in his career he worked at Quadriga Worldwide Ltd where he was instrumental in the introduction of digital technology and services to the hospitality industry across Europe, Middle East, and Africa. Before Quadriga, he was a venture capitalist for 2 years and, even earlier, a Senior award-winning and published technologist at BT plc for 5 years. He also holds university professorial visiting appointments. Nwana has just published an authoritative book entitled Telecommunications, Media & Technology (TMT) for Emerging Economies: How to make TMT Improve Developing Economies for the 2020s – published in April 2014.

Ser Wah OH obtained his B.Eng. from the University of Malaya (UM), Malaysia and Ph.D. and MBA degrees from Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. He currently holds multiple appointments at the Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R) which includes Head of TV White Spaces Department, Deputy Director of Strategic Planning Office, Advisor of Smart Grid Programme and Co-Director of I2R-Singapore Power Joint Lab. Ser Wah is also being appointed as a member of the Ministry of Communication and Information’s Infocomm Media Masterplan 2025 working committee on Infrastructure. He is also the Co-Founder of the Singapore White Spaces Pilot Group and Co-Chairman of Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) task force on TV White Spaces. He led a team to contribute to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) TV White Space trial in the USA in 2008, which helped FCC to open up TV White Space for unlicensed communications. Together with partners, the TV White Space solution designed by I2R has been deployed in several locations in Singapore and the region including the world’s largest TVWS network in the Philippines. Prior to I2R, he was a Technical Manager at STMicroelectronics in charge of teams in Singapore and Beijing R&D Centers for 3G WCDMA and TD-SCDMA development. Ser Wah is also a recipient of the 2014 ASEAN Outstanding Engineering Achievement Award, 2014 & 2009 Institution of Engineers Singapore Prestigious Engineering Achievement Award, the 2013 & 2012 WUN CogCom Best Paper Award in Practical Implementations and Trials, 2010 Ernst & Young Cash Prize Award as the Top MBA Graduate, and IEEE ICT 2001 Paper Award.

Darrell Owen has been engaged in socioeconomic-focused Digital Development for over 20 years: initially as an employee of USAID, but for the last 16 years as an independent consultant to both the private and public sectors. Having a Masters Degree in Telecommunications, most of his efforts focus on expanding Internet connectivity into developing countries--including an initiative in the 1990s for introducing the Internet to over a dozen countries in Africa. For the past decade plus his priority has been on expanding affordable broadband into small rural communities. Mr. Owen's experience includes engagements with the United Nation's Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD), designing and launching a new rural connectivity program for USAID, working with national governments on making telecommunications-related policy and legal/regulatory changes, designing and managing local in-country programs, and working with international and local businesses in several countries on implementing rural deployments.

Dr. Rashmi Doshi is currently the Chief of Federal Communications Commission Laboratory in the U.S. He is responsible for managing and leading engineering staff in the evaluation of advanced wireless technologies and the development of evaluation procedures for new radio devices in support of the FCC technical rules. He also oversees the FCC’s Equipment Authorization program which includes supervising, directing and managing Telecommunications Certification Bodies in the US and Overseas. Rashmi has been involved in the communications industry for nearly 40 years in various capacities. He has worked as Executive Director for Verizon Science and Technology where he led the development of advanced network switching and communications technology. He has held engineering positions at Bell-Northern Research (Canada) and British Telecom Research Center (U.K.). He has been involved in the development of network technologies for voice, data and multi-media services. He was also a Research Fellow at Imperial College, University of London (England). He obtained his Ph.D. in Digital Signal Processing from University of Southampton and B.S. from University of London.

Dr. Ishizu received Ph.D in 2005 from Kyushu University, Japan. He has been working with National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) in Japan, which was formerly Communications Research Laboratory (CRL), since 2002. For more than ten years, Dr. Ishizu has been involved in research and development projects mainly on scalable Content Delivery Network (CDN), heterogeneous wireless networks, and cognitive wireless networks.Dr. Ishizu has been involved in international standardizations such as IEEE 802.21 and IEEE 1900.4 where research achievements of the projects were adopted in published standards. His current research topics include wireless network system technologies in White Space from perspectives of network architecture, hardware and software configurations, decision-making algorithm, database management, and so on, where technologies in all layers are to be integrated in a system.

Hemant Mallapur is a Co-founder and Vice President of Engineering at Saankhya Labs - an innovative technology startup from India developing wireless broadband systems and semiconductor chipsets. Hemant manages development of TV White Space products which are the world’s first Base Station & Modem equipment compliant to Wi-FAR standard. Prior to this he managed development of Saankhya’s award-winning Software Defined Radio Pruthvi chipset. He is an Observer on the Board of Directors of Saankhya which is a privately-held fabless semiconductor company funded by Intel Capital. Hemant holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics & Communications from JNTU Hyderabad, India and has over 23 years of experience in semiconductor industry. Earlier he was one of the early members of Sage Inc. which went IPO in 1999, where he managed development of chipsets for HDTV. In 2000 he was featured in the annual Innovator List by EDN ASIA magazine and holds 4 US patents.

James Carlson is an engineer and hands-on CEO who has been in the business of rural wireless communications since 1986. In recent months, he was among the key industry partners working directly with the FCC to free up TV white space for the next generation of rural communication devices, the first of which is a software-defined radio from Carlson Wireless Technologies. This radio, like the others that will evolve for this new spectrum, is free from the constraints of line-of-sight positioning. Mr. Carlson looks forward to the opportunity to offer practical insight about deploying this exciting new technology. Mr. Carlson’s background demonstrates his innovation and commitment to remote connectivity. In 1990 he invented the Optaphone, a point-to-point UHF radio that delivered quality wireless signals for standard telephone service to isolated areas. It succeeded so well in that, in only a few years, thousands of units were in operation around the globe, from Peruvian jungle villages to Antarctic research stations. In 1999, he founded Carlson Wireless Technologies to carry on developing rural wireless equipment for voice and data. This work led to the development of radio products that now serve communities worldwide in a variety of mission-critical sectors in industry and public safety, for fire and police work applications and other public functions. Mr. Carlson majored in electrical engineering and computer science at Grand Rapids Community College in 1977 and received certification in application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) design from Oregon Center for Advanced Technology Education in 1996.

Dr. Basheerhamad Shadrach is the Asia Coordinator for the World Wide Web Foundation for its Alliance for Affordable Internet program. In this capacity, Dr. Shadrach helps to build coalitions of private, public and civil society organizations to advance the shared aim of affordable access to both mobile and fixed-line internet in Asia. Dr. Shadrach also consults for the Global Libraries Program of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Until recently, Dr. Shadrach served as the Global CEO of the Telecentre.org Foundation. Prior to that, Dr Shadrach worked for IDRC, Canada, managing ICT4D research grants in Asia, including the Mission 2007: every village a knowledge centre initiative of India led by Professor M S Swaminathan. As the global head of telecentre.org Academy program, Dr. Shadrach developed the ecosystem for training one million knowledge workers at the grassroots around the world. In partnership with ITU, Dr. Shadrach has also launched the Telecentre Women: Digital Literacy Campaign which has been recognized for offering digital skills to over 1 Million women worldwide in March 2014. Dr. Shadrach was the global coordinator of the Grassroots Caucus at WSIS in Geneva and Tunis. In his nearly three-decade long career, Dr. Shadrach has also served in senior management capacities in a variety of organizations such as the British Council, Transparency International and OneWorld International. He has consulted for DFID, the Open University, Practical Action and Article 19 in the UK; ITU; UNDP; and, the ICTA of Sri Lanka. For his thesis on measuring the impact of rural information access, initiatives, Dr. Shadrach has been awarded a PhD by Loughborough University in the UK.

Abhay joined the Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Bombay in April 1997, where he is currently a Professor. He was the Head of the Department from January 2012 to January 2015. He has also served as Head of Computer Center during 2008-11. He is currently spearheading IIT Bombay's efforts in setting Research Park at IIT Bombay. He is the coordinator of Tata Teleservices IIT Bombay Center for Excellence in Telecom and National Center of Excellence in Technology for Internal Security. Dr Karandikar has 5 US patents issued and several patents pending, contributions to IEEE standards, contributed chapters in books and large number of papers in international journals and conferences to his credit. He has supervised 10 PhD, more than 100 Masters and large number of BTech research projects. He has served on the technical program committees of leading international conferences He has also served as technology advisor and consultant to many companies. Dr. Karandikar is a two time recipient of award for excellence in teaching at IIT Bombay- in 2006 and 2011. He is also a recipient of the VASVIK Industrial research award 2010, NASI-Reliance Industries Platinum Jubilee award 2012, Dr Vikram Sarabhai Research award 2010, Prof. S. V. Aiya Memorial Award 2005-06 by SVC Aiya Trust Pune, Prof. K. Srinivasan Award 2005-06 by IETE and Dr PK Patwardhan Technology Development award.

Ashok Jhunjhunwala is Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras at Chennai, India. After his BTech, he got his MS and PhD from the University of Maine. From 1979 to 1981, he was with Washington State University as Assistant Professor. Since 1981, he has been teaching at IIT Madras. Dr. Jhunjhunwala is considered the pioneer in nurturing Industry-Academia interaction in India towards R&D, Innovation and Product Development. He conceived and built the first Research Park (IIT Madras Research Park) in India which houses over 100 R&D companies in its 1.2 million square feet built-up area. TIE conferred him the title of Dronacharya for his contributions to the cause of entrepreneurship, as he incubated and nurtured over 100 companies at IIT Madras. He heads the IITM Incubation Cell and Rural Technology and Business Incubator (RTBI). He leads the Telecommunications and Computer Networks group (TeNeT), which has worked closely with industry in the development of a number of products for Indian telecom, banking and power industries. One of his key focus over the last two decades has been to drive telecom R&D. As a developer of the first Wireless in Local Loop (CorDECT WLL) product in India, he recognises that in the absence of adequate wire-line infrastructure, India would need to deliver higher and higher bit rate per Hz of available spectrum, but with lower and lower power per bit. The R&D tasks in India are to contribute to new fundamental ideas and acquire enough IPR in the area and drive international standards. The first objective would be to get India as a net-royalty inflow nation. At the same time, there has to be a focus on driving telecom design and manufacturing in India, so that its net-imports in telecom goes to zero. Simultaneously, he has been working on using telecom and ICT to make a difference to lives of people in India, especially for its rural people. Using ICT to drive health-care, education, agriculture, livelihood and financial inclusion has been the focus of his work. He was the founder chairman of Mobile Payment Forum of India, which enabled mobile payments in India.

Sameer Wasson is General Manager for Texas Instrument’s Communications Processor business which is focused on delivering silicon and software solutions for Macro BTS, small cell BTS and other high performance communications and data acquisition markets. He has been at TI since 2005 in various engineering, product management and business management roles and has led TI’s strategy and direction in the wireless infrastructure space over the past 5yrs. He has a Master’s in Electrical Engineering from Syracuse University and bachelor’s from University of Pune, India.

Pankaj Sharma obtained his M. Tech. (Microwave Electronics) from University of Delhi and MBA from Lancaster University. He has been working in India & Singapore on the design of equipments for Satellite Communication, Terrestrial Communication, High Power Wi-Fi System, UWB for data communication, UWB localisation, Wi-Fi based localization & Maritime Communication. Currently, Pankaj is working on TV White Space equipment designs for various applications and holds the position of Lab Head (White Space Devices) & Strategic Planning Manager with Institute for Infocomm Research (A*STAR). He is also involved in various deployments of TVWS networks in Singapore and overseas. His efforts helped team to win IES Prestigious Engineering Award, ASEAN Outstanding Engineering Achievement Award & SMF Business Model Innovation Award in 2014 and Best Innovative Use of Infocomm Technology in 2015.

Shyam Ponappa is a Distinguished Fellow whose work is in the areas of broadband, telecommunications, and spectrum policy, from management, systems, and technology perspectives.Beginning his career at the State Bank of India, he was a Senior Manager, Management Consulting Services, at Price Waterhouse in San Francisco, M&A Head for Citibank in India, and thereafter managed a partnership doing alliances, business strategy, and financial placements in New Delhi for major international and domestic clients. Subsequently, he was an independent consultant in India and abroad. His experience is in financial placements, M&A, and business strategy for clients in IT, telecommunications, power, oil/energy, airlines, biotechnology, banking/financial services, hotels, shipping, railroads, manufacturing, agri-business, law firms, and retail enterprises. He has advised the government on public policy since 1990, primarily in telecommunications. As a columnist for the Business Standard, he writes on infrastructure and managing economic reforms (http://organizing-india.blogspot.com). He has an MBA from the University of California at Berkeley, an MA (History) and a BSc (Physics) from Madras Christian College."

Dr. Ashok Chandra received his Ph.D. and Doctorate of Science (D.Sc.) – in the area of Radio Communications. He joined the Wireless Planning and Coordination (WPC) Wing/Wireless Monitoring Organization (WMO), Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Government of India in 1977 through a highly prestigious All India competitive examination “Indian Engineering Services (IES)”. He served as Wireless Advisor to the Government of India, Ministry of Communications & IT, until November, 2012. He was the Head of Wireless Planning & Coordination Wing/Wireless Monitoring Organization. He has more than 35 years of experience in dealing will all matters of Radio Frequency Spectrum Management & Planning. As the Project Director, he implemented prestigious World Bank Project on National Radio Spectrum Management and Monitoring System (NRSMMS). He worked as a Guest Scientist on DAAD Fellowship at various Technical Universities of Germany. He undertook a series of research studies in the area of radio mobile communications. He was on deputation (1992 to 1999) to the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India, and dealing with Technical Education matters of Indian Institutes of Technology, Indian Institute of Science, Indian Institutes of Information Technology, National Institutes of Technology etc including their various research projects. He has wide experience on the functioning of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) particularly in the Radio Sector. He was the Vice-Chairman of the ITU Study Group-5. He organized several meetings of ITU in India. Attended ITU Council meetings as Councilor on behalf of the Indian Administration.