Coleago Consultants

Nick Fookes is a mobile and multimedia marketing and finance specialist with extensive international M&A, bid, and operational planning experience. A skilled financial modeller with a passion for value optimisation, Nick is also proficient in all areas of strategy development and proposition design.

Nick started his career as a telecoms analyst with MeesPierson, the Dutch merchant bank, and was a senior finance manager with BT for four years. During this time, he was a key member of BT’s international business development team, supporting the company’s acquisition of mobile businesses and licences in a broad variety of markets across the globe. Nick led the business planning function during Telfort Mobile’s bid for a 2G licence in the Netherlands, and helped devise the company’s auction strategy. He led the evaluation of Maxis in Malaysia, paving the way for BT’s acquisition of a 33% stake in Binariang. Key work-streams included market-sizing, segmentation, analysis of primary and secondary market research, assessment of plausible market-consolidation scenarios, and technology-impact analysis. Nick also evaluated the cellular assets of Japan Telecom, during the joint acquisition of a 30% stake with AT&T Wireless. He initiated and led a study into the impact of 3G on the value of existing 2G assets, developing likely customer-migration scenarios.

More recently Nick advised MTN, the leading South African mobile operator, in connection with its bid for GSM and 3G licences in Saudi Arabia, leading the development of the company’s market-entry strategy as well as drafting the marketing chapter in the bid document.

Nick has over ten years telecoms experience, predominantly in mobile and multimedia, covering some twenty markets in Europe, Asia, the Americas, Middle-East and Africa, working for or consulting with BT, Orange, MTN and MeesPierson.

In addition to his comprehensive experience and skills, Nick is an expert in the field of regressive pricing and retrospective least-cost billing.

Born in Switzerland in 1968, Nick graduated with an engineering MSc from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, where he specialised in statistical modelling, control engineering and telecoms. He is fluent in French and Dutch, and has a good command of Spanish and German.

Alison has over 15 years telecoms experience in fixed, mobile and value add services. She has worked for both telecom operators and for a start-up mobile content company. Alison has broad experience which includes business development, business planning, and strategy development. Alison has worked internationally in Asia, Africa and Europe.

Prior to joining Coleago Alison was CEO of a start-up company which developed and launched the worlds first 3G chat service. Alison was responsible for launching the product both on mobile and web, secured distribution relationships with Hutchison’s 3 as well as content aggregators, and supported the sale of the company.

Alison has held a number of senior roles in Orange and BT. At Orange she was Head of International Business Development and Business Planning. In this role she supported a number of international initiatives including evaluating the strategic options for Orange Thailand, evaluating a number of acquisition targets and the development of Orange International 3G strategy and Business Plans. At BT Alison provided financial support to the fixed and mobile licence bids in Singapore and in Malaysia the bids for the Multimedia Super Highway. In these roles she was responsible for developing business plans, drafting financial chapters of the bids and representing BT in negotiations with the Government.

Alison is a chartered accountant with a BA in Business Studies.

Domingo has extensive experience of business and strategic planning and business modelling across a range of European countries and telecommunication businesses. Domingo has worked on projects to model the long run incremental cost of a CATV channel for OPTA, the Dutch telecommunications regulator and on an assignment to raise the finance for a US based wireless local loop operator.

Domingo’s business planning assignments include a five year business plan for Canal+ in the Netherlands; a high capacity fibre optic backbone network in Italy and developing operational business plans for CLEC JVs in five European countries.

Domingo has also been involved in successful “beauty contests” for a US based wireless local loop operator in Europe, Asia Pacific as well as South America.

Prior to joining Coleago, Domingo worked as an independent consultant in the telecommunications sector and prior to that as a consultant at Logica Consulting in their telecommunications and media unit.

Domingo was awarded an Economics degree with a specialisation in International Finance from ICADE University in Madrid and he also holds a degree in Business Administration from ESB Reutlingen where he specialised in Corporate Strategy. Prior to joining the consultancy profession, Domingo worked as an equities analyst for Lehman Brothers. Domingo speaks Spanish, English, German and Italian and has a good working knowledge of French.

Bart Hawley is a seasoned finance professional with extensive experience in budgeting and strategic planning, business valuation, M&A, financial process engineering, treasury management and capital markets for both international and US companies.

Projects include:

• Designed and implemented budgeting process for publically traded US healthcare provider. Managed company-wide process for 4 budget cycles.
• Designed, developed and implemented budgeting process for Canadian mobile operator (MVNO). Advised Senior Management on joint venture compliance issues.
• Re-engineered financial processes for publically traded US healthcare provider, establishing best practices and reducing resource allocation. Processes included management reporting, monthly close, accounts payable and treasury management.
• Developed distribution strategy for pre-paid product offering Canadian mobile operator (MVNO), including analysis of process flow and vendor selection.
• Valuation of business expansion opportunities for wireless telecom operator including analysis of mobile and fixed wireless operations (Africa and the Middle East).
• Acquisition analysis of Middle Eastern wireless telecom company including valuation and structural analysis.
• Analysis of Middle Eastern wireless license opportunity including valuation, bid preparation and submission.
• Analysis and litigation support for European wireless navigational systems service provider.

Bart has over 20 years management experience working in various industries including telecommunications, healthcare and banking with companies such as Nextel Communications, Virgin Mobile of Canada (MVNO), MTN of South Africa, TeleCorp PCS (AT&T), Commnet Cellular (Cingular), CityNet Telecommunication (fiber-optic construction company), HealthExtras (healthcare company) and Household Banks, N.A. He has designed, developed, and implemented complex, financial models used to make critical business decisions. Bart has also implemented and managed various financial processes including budgeting, management reporting, accounts payable, monthly close and treasury management. He has been a key player in capital formation (public and private debt and equity) as well as the M&A process, including valuation, due diligence and integration.

Steve brings unparalled practical, technical expertise in 2G, 2.5G and 3G technologies as well as mobile IP products and mobile ASP services. Steve has always been at the forefront of the design and deployment of mobile technologies, from designing the concepts for the world’s first PCN operator through to meeting the technical challenges of creating MVNOs (Mobile Virtual Network Operators). Steve has most recently been working with Virgin Mobile Asia-Pacific where he had responsibility for producing the strategy and delivery of advanced voice and data services into the world’s first regional MVNO.

Prior to working as a consultant Steve was Vice President of Mobile and ASP services at Cable & Wireless Global Mobile. Steve was responsible for designing, developing and taking to market all Wireless Internet and Mobile IP products within the C&W Global product portfolio. In the course of his role Steve developed a Nokia Alliance team and created a launch environment that included the first 3G IP development/demonstration platform, based in the UK. Steve was also responsible for developing the wireless environment for the world’s first mass ASP products, including assuring the portability of the products to other ASP environments.

Before becoming Vice President of Mobile and ASP services Steve had gained 23 years experience within Cable & Wireless Global Mobile culminating in his position as Technical Director. As Technical Director Steve managed a direct team of 58 individuals world wide, with technical responsibility for a business portfolio once valued at over US$27 billion and representing 45 cellular operating companies. Steve provided the operating companies with business planning support for the analysis of the impact of GPRS, EDGE and WCDMA technologies. Steve also developed a common vendor management program with key suppliers such as Nokia, Ericsson and Motorola to ensure the continuity of system development and expansion, whilst maintaining ongoing reductions in the cost base.

Steve has worked in an almost unimaginable variety of operating locations from the lush tropics of the Caribbean to the harsh deserts of Egypt and the Gazza strip. As Cable & Wireless’s Chief Engineer Steve developed the C&W mobile strategy for prospecting new-business world-wide and was responsible for the technical and operational content of all new mobile licence applications world-wide. Steve led the operations team which delivered successful major licence applications including Germany (D2), Australia (OPTUS), France (Bouygues telecom), Sweden (Tele2), South Africa (MTN), Singapore (M1), Japan (TDP, PDC, Tokai, Kansai), Colombia, Panama, Bulgaria, Latvia, Siberia, Sakhalin Island and Byelorussia. He also supported special projects in Hong Kong, Macau, USA (PCS), Jamaica, Trinidad, Italy, Spain, Botswana, New Zealand, Egypt, Israel (BEZEQ), Gaza strip, Lebanon, Russia, China, Kazahkstan. Steve also sold and deployed the 1st non-Japanese computer assisted network planning toolsets in Japan (PlaNET).

Steve has also held roles within Cable & Wireless as Network Planning Manager where he developed and deployed the initial planning concepts for One2One, the first GSM 1800 MHz operator. Steve was also the Manager of Cellular Network Planning in Hong Kong Telecom where he was responsible for the design and deployment of the first GSM system in Asia.

Prior to joing Cable & Wireless Steve was in the Royal Navy. Steve attended INSEAD.

John Parker, Coleago’s engineering specialist, is an expert in radio communication systems including the design and planning of GSM and UMTS cellular networks. He is experienced in addressing radio technical and performance issues; in project management and implementation and in carrying out strategic assignments. In this capacity he has worked extensively for operators, manufacturers, users and governments.

John has been involved with GSM since the late 1980’s when he carried out the technical assessments for most of the GSM studies undertaken for the European Commission, two of which he led. During this period he also provided advice to the Greek Government on the introduction of GSM. In 1998 he led the team providing technical advice to the Swiss Office of Communications during evaluation of bids for the second and third Swiss GSM licences.

John assisted many operators around the world with licence applications and technical implementation of cellular networks, including the following major projects:

• Assisted a bidder in establishing the need, lobbying and successfully bidding for a GSM licence in South Africa.
• Led radio teams bidding for cellular licences in Germany and Korea on behalf of a US RBOC and carried out several studies of cellular, PMR and other radio technologies for clients in Europe, the USA and Asia.
• Responsible for supporting Belgacom Mobile during the launch of their GSM radio network.
• Undertook a network audit and led the subsequent network quality improvement programme for MTN, South Africa.
• Responsible for the team planning the rollout of Korea Telecom Freetel’s IS-95 CDMA cellular network.

John has become increasingly involved in UMTS and has developed a course on UMTS radio network planning. Intended primarily for technical and also marketing planning staff, the emphasis is on developing a sound understanding of the underlying technology.

Over the last 12 years, John’s clients have included: Airtouch (USA); Alcatel (France); Belgacom Mobile (Belgium); Bell South (USA); Bosch Telecom (Germany); CSA (UK); Diax (Switzerland); European Commission; France Telecom; Hong Kong Telecom CSL; Hutchison Microtel (UK); KCRC (Hong Kong); KPNO (Belgium); KT Freetel (Korea); MTI Managers (UK); MTN (South Africa); Multichoice (South Africa); One2One (UK); Orange (UK); Philips (UK); SFR (France); South Western Bell (USA); Spectrasite Transco (UK); Swiss Office of Communications; Tele Denmark; UK Department of Trade and Industry; UK Home Office.

John was a Director of Quotient Communications Ltd (1993-2000), a Managing Consultant with PA Consulting (1988-1993) and a Development Engineer with MEL (part of Philips UK – 1976-1988). A British/Swiss dual national, John speaks German and English. He has spoken at a number of conferences and produced several written articles. He holds a number of patents. John holds a BSc (Eng) Electrical Engineering, ACGI, Imperial College, University of London and a MSc Radio Communication Systems, University of Birmingham.

Jonathan is a highly experienced telecoms economist and has worked on cost modelling projects in a large number of European countries as well as in South America, Africa and Asia. His cost modelling assignments have included developing and appraising bottom-up and top-models in both the fixed and mobile sectors.

Jonathan has developed price cap models in the UK and Guernsey and has provided advice on price cap related issues in the UK, Italy, Eastern Europe and the Far East. He has also developed business plans in Europe and South Africa as well as providing accounting, economic and financial expertise on assignments covering accounting separation, spectrum pricing, current cost accounting, the determination of the cost of capital and the setting of mobile tariffs.

Jonathan has more than 20 years experience in the telecommunications industry. He worked at British Telecoms for 8 years where his work included the development of cost models; the development and implementation of current cost accounts and providing economic advice on a range of regulatory issues. Jonathan then joined NERA as a consultant specialising in costing issues in telecommunications before joining DDV in 1997 where he also worked on costing models as well as on business planning and mobile tariffing. He became an independent telecommunications consultant in 2000 and has recently joined Coleago as a managing consultant.

Jonathan has a BA Honours (1st Class) and an MA in Economics and has also been awarded an MBA.

Matt is a highly experienced telecoms strategist, business modeller and executive trainer with extensive knowledge in telecoms regulation, regulatory cost modelling, and commercial strategy.

Matt has more than 16 years of experience in the ICT industry, with the last 12 years working as a management consultant. In recent assignments, he worked on a broad range of different projects including strategic market assessments, regulatory studies and business modelling for operators, regulators and vendors in both developed and emerging markets. Matt has successfully worked on projects in more than 40 different countries underlining his high degree of cultural sensitivity and awareness. Combining engineering skills with strong financial and strategic insight, he has advised governments on privatisation strategies for incumbent operators and developed various business and costing models in both, fixed and mobile network environments.

In addition to consulting assignments, Matt conducts seminars, executive trainings and workshops at business schools, in companies and at conferences on a global scale. As associate professor at EADA, a business school in Spain, he teaches master programmes on business strategy, international marketing and management consulting skills. During the period of 1997-2003 he worked as Managing Consultant for Logica Consulting, where, besides working on consulting assignments in the areas of strategy, marketing, business planning and regulatory advice, he held the position of resource manager responsible for the allocation of consultants to local and international consulting assignments.

Prior to becoming a consultant, he held various positions in product management, engineering and research at Nokia and at Deutsche Telekom, based in Germany. Matt holds two academic titles, a doctorate degree in telecommunications science and an MBA. He is fluent in German, English, Spanish and Dutch and has a good working knowledge of French.

Claus Hetting has worked in the mobile industry for more than 15 years and has provided industry-leading expertise to dozens of MNOs, solution vendors, and organizations worldwide. Today Claus provides specialized consulting services ranging from network infrastructure modelling to strategic technology management.

Claus started his mobile industry career working for Nokia Networks in Denmark managing network technology solutions towards prominent Scandinavian mobile operators. He has also been instrumental in marketing Nokia Networks mobile technology solutions to leading operators across four continents, including the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa. In 2001 Claus was involved in securing the most highly valued network contract at the time for Nokia Networks in Brazil.

Claus also has more than 10 years of experience in developing techno-economic business models for the mobile industry. This work has included more than a dozen major modelling projects for operators, banks, governments and organizations in South Africa, Scandinavia, the U.K., Brazil, and Chile. Since 2004 Claus has been involved in developing a modelling framework for techno-economic analysis of 3G and HSPA network technology.

Claus holds a masters degree in electrical engineering and speaks fluent English, Scandinavian, Spanish, and Portuguese.

James is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and has worked for blue chip financial institutions including; Ernst & Young in Poland, PricewaterhouseCoopers, London and Bank of Scotland, Edinburgh. He has broad transaction experience including M&A, privatisations and debt advisory, debt and equity financing and valuation work.

His project work has included:

• European cable TV provider – Market and business review and discussions to provide growth equity and debt financing.
• Italian mobile mast company – Review of business plan and preparation of indicative financing terms to support the acquisition of the tower assets of two Italian mobile companies.
• GMT Communications Partners – Assessment and completion of a fund investment into this pan-European private equity company’s third fund.
• Melita Cable – Mandated Lead Arranger in the €135m financing for the acquisition of this Maltese cable company.
• Thus plc – Joint Lead Arranger of £110m refinancing of this Scottish plc.
• Airwave – Mandated Lead Arranger of £1.8bn senior debt facilities to finance Macquarie’s acquisition of the emergency services telecoms infrastructure provider, Airwave, from O2, and Eircom – Joint Lead Arranger in the €4.2bn financing of Babcock & Brown’s acquisition of the Irish incumbent telecoms operator, Eircom.

He has wide international experience having worked in the UK, Western, Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East, S. America, Caribbean, Asia and is adept at working in a wide variety of countries and cultures and understanding the company’s specific needs.

James has a good working knowledge of Polish and a basic knowledge of French.

Len is a successful entrepreneur and experienced start-up professional with over twenty years working at the forefront of new ventures and projects with proven expertise in creating dynamic companies from concept, raising funds from VC’s, strategic investors and corporate boards.

The most recent role was as Founder and Vice President of Ubiquisys, the global leader in the growing Femtocell Industry. Ubiquisys has transformed the mobile landscape where femtocells are now becoming an established part of operators’ 3G strategy on a global basis. Ubiquisys won numerous awards from Red Herring Top 100 to World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer and has consistently been rated Number 1 in the industry. The company has attracted investment from VC and strategic investors including Google.

Len led the company as its first CEO developing the initial strategy and business plans. He was responsible for the company development and raised the initial seed and A’ Round funding of $12m from three Blue-Chip VC’s. After hiring an industry leader as its next CEO, Len acted as VP Business Development and focused on developing the markets in Japan, Asia Pacific, and Middle East resulting in the world's first launch of 3G femtocells from Softbank, the most innovative mobile operator in Japan and first major sales for the company.

Prior to founding Ubiquisys Len was the Launch Director for the 3G operator start-up in Luxembourg for Orange. Before this he worked for Vodafone, managing the Vodafone Ventures Fund which invested in wireless technology start-ups. Len started his career in telecoms with BT where he was part of the M&A team first based in London covering deals across Europe and subsequently based out of Singapore covering the Asia market which included supporting the start-up fixed and mobile operator Starhub.

Navtej Madhok has extensive expertise in business modelling, financial forecasting and valuations, predominantly within the telecoms sector. Navtej supplements this with considerable experience of strategic analysis, market strategy and compilation of business planning and investment material. His work has been largely for the purposes of investment appraisals, fund-raising and potential acquisition evaluations. Projects have included substantial experience of mobile as well as backbone and international transmission networks.

Navtej has been employed in key strategic advisory, financial and operational roles in Europe, North America, Asia and Africa. He has gained extensive mobile experience particularly in developing markets, covering market strategy, network and costs, business modelling and valuations. His work includes full business case modelling, financial forecasting and valuations of several African mobile operators, covering voice, data, international gateway and wireless internet, for potential acquirers and fund-raising purposes. Navtej compiled the investment material required for an international submarine fibre-optic cable for which funding was recently achieved. He has produced complex pricing models for national and international capacity pricing. Navtej also formulated the core market strategy and business case for the successful entry of a major international telco into the European SME market, which included target market propositions, positioning strategy, products and pricing.

The range of projects Navtej has carried over the last 15 years is vast and encompasses many telecoms operators such as MCI International (UK), MTN (South Africa), MTS (Nigeria), Ameritech (USA), TCNZ (New Zealand), SFR (France), CTI (USA) and Alcatel (France).

Navtej graduated from the University of Liverpool with a BA (Hons) in Economics & Mathematics prior to commencing work as a strategy consultant within the telecoms sector. Navtej has also worked in Corporate Strategy at MCI International and spent some time running a corporate finance business. Navtej speaks French and English.

Peter has extensive experience of the performance of Customer Operations. He has a background of leadership within major global Brands. He has personally led the start-up, shut-down, turnaround and growth of many significant consumer and business operations in Europe and has over 30 years of Strategic and Operational leadership experience.

The scope of Peter’s work encompasses mobile, fixed line, ISP and broadcast services including voice, data and content. He has delivered projects across EMEA as a corporate executive, as a consultant and as an interim manager. His projects have included operational audit, customer strategy and operational change, leadership and team development. He has also contributed to the due diligence process of some of Europe’s largest technology sales. His broad background in Sales, Marketing and Service, plus his experience of Technology, Process and People leadership enable him to take a sound holistic view of Strategic and Operational issues.

Peter’s corporate background includes six years as Customer Service Director with One2One/T-Mobile where he was part of the executive team that groomed the Network for sale and developed the customer base from 1.5M to 15M. He reduced the cost per customer by over 300% and improved Customer Satisfaction from 4th to joint 1st place. He also developed the international service strategy as a member of the Deutsche Telekom executive leadership team.

Prior to T-Mobile, Peter spent 18 years in IT sales and marketing with Hewlett Packard, Pyramid Technology and ORACLE where as Managing Director he built the Direct Marketing Division, culminating in a $300M business selling in 29 languages to countries throughout EMEA.

As a Consultant and Interim manager, during the past five years he has improved sales, reduced Churn and costs for Setanta Sports; carried out operational reviews, advised on strategic planning and delivered coaching to customer leadership teams for BSkyB, C&W Bulldog and HBOS-Lex in the UK. He has delivered operational reviews and strategic plans for Cable & Wireless Caribbean retail sales and service operations and due diligence reviews of IT and Customer Operations for buyers of Spanish and Greek fixed/mobile Networks.

Peter has spoken frequently at customer management conferences in London and Amsterdam and has often been quoted as a leader in Customer Experience and operational best practice.

Born in England in 1954 Peter graduated from the University of Durham with a BSc in Engineering Science before joining Hewlett Packard as a trainee Sales Engineer. He has a growing family and a passion for flying light aircraft and Rowing.

Richard Riley is a Chartered Certified Accountant with thirty years experience in large and SME companies both in the UK and overseas. He has a unique mix of talents having combined his long career as an Accountant and Entrepreneur with a passion for broadcasting which has led to him presenting news and current affairs programmes for the BBC over a twenty year period.

Qualifying as an Accountant with Sotheby’s, the Fine Art Auctioneers he went on to travel many countries with a large multi national construction, steel and foundry business owned by Burmah Castrol. This work involved him in large computer projects where he would project manage the business analysis work through to implementation and training of the users. He continued this work in the UK through The Department Trade and Industry working on a government backed initiative known as the Finance and Information Systems initiative. This involved working with companies large and small including a two year project with Barclays Bank implementing and training a new property holdings system to control their large property portfolio. Recently he has worked with Coleago within the Telecoms sector on a roll out of their Basic Commercial Awareness course, which has a financial bias, at Orange.

His presentation skills were tested to extreme through his work with the BBC as a reporter, producer and presenter of current affairs at their Oxford base, including a spell presenting their award winning all speech breakfast programme, Oxford AM.

In the training arena Richard is suited to developing and delivering training programmes to large and small audiences, moderating at conferences and mentoring individuals through particular tasks required for career progression.

Robert Filkins has worked in the telecommunications industry for over 25 years. Approximately ten years of this time was spent working for fixed and mobile network operators, and the remaining time has been as a consultant. He has a broad experience of the communications industry, covering voice, data and mobile networking and business operations. Clients have included telecommunications users, suppliers and operators throughout Europe, USA and the Asia-Pacific region. His specialist telecommunications experience includes:

• Preparation of licence bids and evaluation of bids on behalf of regulators.
• Fixed and mobile network architecture and design
• Business performance measurement and process improvement.
• Developing and launching new products and services.
• Managing the launch of new mobile and fixed network businesses.

Robert worked with one of the consortia bidding to build and operate Singapore’s Next Generation National Broadband Network. He reviewed and edited the technical proposals to the country’s regulator, the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA). The network will provide ultra-high speed fibre optic connections to Singapore’s businesses, homes and education facilities to deliver the next generation of voice, data and video services.

For a satellite operator, Robert was the technical leader within the Regulatory team involved in the negotiations for licences in each of the countries covered by the service. The work included investigation of licence conditions, development of solutions for lawful interception and other national requirements, and providing expert technical input to the legal and commercial negotiations for the licences.

Robert led a team which produced a successful application for a UMTS (3G) licence for a well established European fixed and mobile operator. He managed the production of the entire document and lead the technical design work for the bid. His role included authoring key sections as well as editing the whole document to produce a winning bid.

Robert was part of a team which produced an application for a UMTS (3G) licence in one of Europe’s major mobile markets. Robert authored parts of the technical volume, undertook editing of technical, commercial and other sections of the application, and managed logistics for the writing and production of the finished document, and For a European Government, he carried out a technical evaluation of the bids for a GSM licence and made recommendations to the Government on the best qualified bidder.

Victoria is a brand and marketing professional. She has worked for several telecoms companies including; Orange, O2, BT, Cable & Wireless and Siemens. 

Her projects have included:

• Developing a global brand management model for Orange (after identifying how global brands are managed in a number of leading-edge companies, i.e. BBC, Discovery, Microsoft, Virgin, Coca-Cola, Nestle, BT, Calvin Klein, Nortel, Vodafone);
• Developing a strategy and implementation plan for the market entry of the O2 brand and re-branding of 250+ shops;
• Establishing and managing partnerships for Cable & Wireless to co-brand and co-market new products and services with utility companies;
• Identifying and developing strategic business opportunities for MCI in the US, European markets, and the Internet Telephony; and 
• Developing a new products/service portfolio and innovation roadmap for Siemens.

Chris is a telecoms professional with experience in strategy consulting, business development and analysis with a number of companies ranging from operators, vendors, service providers and consultancies. Areas of expertise include messaging, advanced network technologies, middleware and handset technologies.

He has authored the following published reports:

• Femtocells Market (Jan 2009).
• The Mobile TV Market (Dec 2008).
• The LTE Business Case: Operator & Vendor Strategies (April 2008).
• Mobile User Generated Content & Web 2.0 (Jan 2008).
• Mobile Backhaul: Meeting The Mobile Broadband Challenge (Oct 2007).
• Femtocells & Picocells: New Markets & Business Models For In Building Cellular (May 2007).

Evolving Service Delivery Platforms: Operator & Vendor Strategies (Nov 2006) and Unlocking Patent Value: Future in Mobile Telecommunications (Nov 2005).

Chris’ work experience includes a number of fundraisings for telco, media and software companies and M&A work for a large US mobile technology company. His consultancy projects have included work for Cable & Wireless, BT, South Korea Telecom, Vodafone and Nokia.

Tina Neave is an experienced mobile telecommunications manager and consultant. She has detailed knowledge of the commercial aspects of network operations as well as footprint development across the globe, including new license bids, MVNO development and other routes to market. She also has considerable experience with customer operations and customer acquisition scenarios and planning.

Tina spent the last 10 years working for Vodafone Group, including UK Retail, Vodafone Egypt, Vodafone UK Customer Operations, Global Business Development and Vodafone Partner Markets. During this time she was responsible for a diverse range of activities including turning around the debt operation within the UK, assisting in the flotation of Vodafone Egypt and  assessing the potential for the mobile market in Iraq at the end of the conflict. She has advised on a number of key markets across the globe in Africa, the Middle East, the Americas and Europe, and has conducted operator reviews of many of the major network operators worldwide. She has been involved in the detailed operations and strategy of the UK and Egyptian businesses, as well as managing international relations with other operators under Vodafone’s Partner Markets scheme.

In addition to her telecommunications expertise, Tina also has over 8 years’ experience as a management consultant specialising in commercial due diligence, strategy, and retail operations, and has worked within the business development team at Thorn EMI Retail.

Tina is currently a special advisor to the Egyptian British Business Council.

Tina graduated from Bristol University with a BSc(Hons) in Physics before going on to gain a CPE in Law from DeMontfort University, and an MBA (with distinction) from London Business School.

Chris Hayward is a highly experienced manager with in-depth knowledge of all aspects of the telecoms business.  He has a track record of delivering large and complex projects throughout Europe and the Middle East, including a number of operator and MVNO start-ups.

As Programme Manager for the original Virgin Mobile launch in the UK, Chris was responsible for translating the vision into a solid operational business within 12 months, and laying the ground for many MVNOs which were to follow.   He also participated in launching an MVNO as part of a triple-play.  He defined the operating structure, managed the vendor procurement process and helped to integrate the new mobile business into the company’s mainstream operations.  Chris has since consulted for a number of MVNO/SP start-ups in the UK, refining business models and defining operational strategies

Chris has carried out projects for many companies including Deloittes and Virgin Mobile throughout Europe and the Middle East.

In 2001 Chris authored the Reuters Business Insights report into Mobile Commerce.

Phil is a senior level telecommunications industry advisor with over 30 years’ experience in high profile Telecommunications and Broadcast Engineering. He has extensive technology and business expertise in the area of mobile communications, and is a highly respected industry expert, having played key roles in numerous high profile industry transactions. On numerous occasions Phil has chaired and presented at International Conferences, and also provided comment in the broadsheet press, and contributed on national radio and television on key telecommunications industry issues.

Phil has in-depth mobile communications technology expertise associated with commercial and public safety networks including GSM , UMTS, LTE and TETRA.  Phil’s key skill areas include Business and Strategic Planning, Due Diligence and Business Plan Evaluation, Network Modelling, Project Management, Procurement, Contract Management, and Training.

Over the past nine years, in his capacity as a senior independent industry advisor, Phil has supported a number of key industry M&A, Debt Financing, Valuation, and Procurement initiatives within the mobile communications industry.  Phil’s experience spans a number of leading operators from across the world including: Vodafone, Orange, Hutchison 3G, MTN, Kyivstar, Sunrise, Base, One, Telenet, Millicom, Eircom, O2 and many more.

Recent Coleago assignments include:
• Leading the technical and cost modelling activities as part of a complex spectrum valuation exercise in Europe. This was carried out on behalf of a network operator in preparation for an auction for spectrum to support their current GSM and UMTS networks and future roll-out of LTE services
• Leading the development of a Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) model as part of a 2G swap programme and procurement of 3G and LTE infrastructure for a 10,000 site mobile network in Eastern Europe

Prior to his role as an independent industry advisor, Phil was Director of the Telcos Consulting Division of Mason Communications Ltd.  Here, Phil was responsible for the direction of all consulting activities within the global fixed and mobile communications market. This role included responsibility for the business unit P&L, developing and securing new business, directing and developing the consulting team, and providing high level strategic input to a variety of major consulting assignments.

Phil’s early Career was with the BBC as a Broadcast Project Engineer, and prior to this with the Ministry of Defence, having completed an avionics apprenticeship at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Bedford.

Andrew James has held several Corporate Development roles at Vodafone over last 10 years including Head of Group Business Development (EMEA), Corporate Development Executive responsible for the Middle East and, Group M&A Executive.

Andrew is an accomplished international executive with demonstrable success in delivering shareholder value by creating new business and joint ventures, developing new market entry models and managing complex projects across Eastern Europe, Africa and Middle East. He has extensive experience in many strategic aspects of the telecommunications and financial services industry including corporate investment strategy, mergers and acquisitions, post merger integration, organizational restructuring, business development, governance and financial control.

Andrew has worked on a number of license bids and auctions, facilitated capital raising, IPOs and initiated a number of market entry vehicles including franchise agreements, MVNO structures.  Andrew’s has worked on initiatives in over 25 countries.  His work has also included market sector reviews, business modelling, financial planning and analysis.

Prior to his time with Vodafone, Andrew held roles in the Financial Services sector at Reuters, Morgan Stanley, Barclays Capital and Coopers & Lybrand.  

Andrew holds a 2:1 Bachelors degree with honours in Civil Engineering and a Masters Degree in Management Science from Imperial College.  He is a chartered accountant.

Gerlinde Gniewosz, is experienced in business planning, including strategic analysis and planning, financial forecasting and business modelling. Gerlinde also has experience in managing strategic projects, such as establishing new businesses. As founder of Zuztertu, an educational mobile apps and solution developer, Gerlinde has recent and in-depth knowledge of the mobile apps industry.   

The scope of Gerlinde’s work encompasses mostly mobile and media.  She previously worked for Orange UK, managing the team responsible for the long-term strategic analysis (market forecasting, long-term business cases and 5 year financial planning).  She led their first financial planning process combining mobile and fixed. Subsequently at Yahoo!, Gerlinde ran international strategic projects covering a range of topics from outsourcing into India to establishing operations in Eastern Europe to cost cutting.    She has also previously worked in Australia (in investment banking) and in Germany (in strategic consulting).

Gerlinde has carried out or been involved in projects for Orange (UK) and Deutsche Telekom (Germany). 

Gerlinde has spoken at various events in UK including BETT, ISQ Roadshow and London Silicon Roundabout.

Born in New Zealand in 1976 Gerlinde holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and graduated from the University of New South Wales (Australia) with a Bachelor of Commerce with 1^st Class Honours and the University Medal. Gerlinde holds CPA status and is Prince 2 qualified.  Gerlinde speaks German. 

Leo Borwick is highly experienced in business strategy and planning, business modelling and simulation and pricing.  He has extensive knowledge of telecoms regulation and has assisted both operators and regulators in successfully navigating complex regulatory issues.

Leo has assisted clients in countries as diverse as Nigeria, the United Kingdom and Malaysia. He has created sophisticated cost models for clients in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, using both top-down and bottom-up approaches and covering a range of different technologies.

Over the last 9 years Leo has carried out projects for many telecoms operators, suppliers and regulators including Eircom (Ireland), Cisco (UK), ComReg (Ireland), Viacom (UK), Telkom Malaysia, NCA (Ghana), AOL UK, Etisalat (Nigeria), TRA (UAE), STC (Saudi Arabia), Viva (Bahrain), Bakcell (Azerbaijan), NGNUK (UK) and others. 

Leo has spoken at telecoms conferences in London, Cologne, Rome and Brussels.

Leo has a BSc and PhD in Psychology. 

Muhammad has over 21 years of experience managing complex technology and business processes across a diverse range of environments.  He is particularly skilled at developing, using and troubleshooting IT and telecommunications technologies having worked on projects all over the world.

Ivor Stevenson has spent over seventeen years in senior leadership positions in Big 4 and specialist business and technology consultancies. He is experienced in operational and technical due diligence, operations audit and improvement, strategy development, PMO design and implementation and management training.

Ivor has carried out and managed consulting projects in many countries across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the United States. His work includes strategy and business planning for start-up wireless operators, MVNEs and MVNOs including Tesco Mobile; operational and technical due diligence on behalf of major banks and equity investors, on mobile and fixed wireless operators, broadband network providers and tower infrastructure companies from Denmark to Tanzania; audit and post-merger integration of network operations of European fixed operators; operating model re-design of global telecom/IT service businesses; and set up and management of a launch PMO for a new market entrant in South Africa. Ivor has also written management training programmes for the O2 Leadership Academy.

Over the last ten years Ivor has carried out projects for telecoms operators, vendors and service providers including BT (UK), Cable and Wireless (UK), MTN (South Africa), TDC (Sweden), Eircom (Ireland), Nokia (USA), Telefonia Dialog (Poland), Smile Communications (South Africa), Cyfrowy Polsat (Poland), Siemens (UK) and Zain (Middle East).

He has spoken at conferences and seminars across Europe and the USA and provided comment on telecoms industry issues for the BBC.