MWC23 Barcelona – The Power of Open APIs to Federate Cloud Networks

Namal Jayathilake, Chief Technology Officer of Axiata Digital Labs, is a seasoned telco professional with over 18 years of experience in the industry. In his time with Axiata Group, Namal has cultivated a deep understanding of core telecom functions, Digital Transformations, Software development and delivery, and product R&D. He has extensive experience in working with global industry leaders to lead award-winning, customer-focused projects.

As CTO of ADL, Namal is responsible for engineering delivery and rigor, people growth and development, R&D, and business sustainability. Under Namal’s leadership, ADL’s vast product and services portfolio includes Telco OSS/BSS products, digital transformation enablers, Fintech solutions, Data Analytics and AI solutions, IOT products, and related emerging technologies.

Namal holds an MBA (PIM) from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, PG Dip in telecommunication, and his B.Sc. Eng. (Hons) in Electronics and Telecommunication from University of Moratuwa

Geok Chwee is the Chief Executive Officer of Bridge Alliance. Bridge Alliance is an alliance of 34 premier telecommunication service providers covering Asia, Middle East and Africa. She oversees the strategy and operation of Bridge Alliance, delivering regional initiatives that enable Bridge Alliance telco members to collaborate as close partners, delivering cross border solutions for Multi-national corporations, serving more than 900 million mobile subscribers.

With more than 20 years of experience in the info-communications industry, Geok Chwee has extensive experience in managing the incubation, development and launch of new technologies and businesses in the enterprise sector. She championed the incubation of emerging growth businesses focusing on Platform-as-a-Service, Internet of Things, and Big Data analytics, with responsibilities spanning business development, product development, product management and product marketing.

Geok Chwee is a technology evangelist who believes in open collaboration with partners and customers, co-creating value-driven innovation to advance new growth engines.

Geok Chwee holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from the National University of Singapore, a Master of Business Administration from the University of Bradford, United Kingdom and a Doctor of Innovation from Singapore Management University.

Nathan Rader was born in the US and holds both US and Swedish Citizenship. He is currently living in Germany while working for Deutsche Telekom leading the API initiatives.

Before joining Deutsche Telekom, he was leading the Telco practice for Canonical the company behind Ubuntu. He focused on helping Telcos transform to software first telcos. He also has experience in bringing cloud and virtualization to the Tele2 Group as Head of Cloud and Data Center.  Nathan was also responsible for launching the first 4G/LTE network in the world with Telia in Sweden while he was working for Nokia.

In his role at Deutsche Telekom Nathan is responsible for the innovation around monetizing the network via Network Capabilities

Nathan holds a degree in Aerospace Engineering from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Henry joined the GSMA in December 2013, and is responsible for the delivery of the Future Networks programme. A key programme of the GSMA’s strategic focus, to deliver industry scale for IP Communications and 5G, whilst considering Network Economic challenges for the Mobile industry as it transitions to a 5G Era.

Previously he worked for the SingTel Group and has over 20 years’ experience in the telecommunications sector, both in Networks and IT portfolios and has been involved in the deployment of mobile networks in over 10 operations across 10 different countries. Henry designed and built Optus’ 3G + LTE mobile network, all IP network and managed the product development transformation.  He was the creator and board member of the network sharing Joint Venture between SingTel Optus and Vodafone Networks Pty Ltd (Australia).

Henry has been a board member and Chair of the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association (AMTA) and previously held an Executive Management Committee position in the GSMA.

Juan Carlos is SVP Technology Innovation and Ecosystem at Telefonica Group, focused on technologies like Edge Computing, NaaS, Network Slicing or AI. He leads the Technology Architecture and Innovation Plan and oversees Telefonica’s participation in standards (O-RAN, ETSI, 3GPP…) and industry fora, representing Telefonica in bodies like the GSMA, Telecom Infra Project, 5TONIC (Telefónica’s 5G ecosystem lab), INDESIA (Spanish association for the development of the Data Economy and AI in the Industrial sector) or the European Alliance for Industrial Data, Edge and Cloud.

He has developed a good part of his career at Telefonica GCTIO unit with different VP positions:  Technology and Architecture (2017-19), Radio Access (2016-17), Transport (2015-16), Operations and Plans (2010-11), Architecture and Plans (2008-9), Fixed Access (2006-7).

Along his 32 years in the Group, he has worked in several Telefónica companies: Germany (2011-14), Data Europe (Italy 2000-2, Germany 2003-5), Latam (1998-2000), R&D (1990-97), playing different technology, architecture, engineering, business development and R&D roles, with periods residing in US and Germany.

He has a Telecom Engineering degree at the Polytechnical University of Madrid and worked for seven years as associate professor of Computer Science at Carlos III University in Madrid.

Neil Tomkinson is a South African IT veteran who has spent just over 3 decades in the telecommunications industry. 24 years of this time was spent working at MTN which is the biggest African Mobile Operator with 230 Million Subscribers. During his tenure at MTN Neil worked in the South African, Iranian, and Ugandan operations as well as in MTN Group overseeing group standards and strategies for all the group operations. Neil joined U Mobile as CIO where his key objectives are to transform the systems that can sustain, support and grow the business objectives.

Having worked his way up to the top from Engineer to CIO, Neil’s depth of technical understanding has allowed him to successfully implement key IT strategies including transformation and first to market innovations. Neil’s vast technical and business knowledge coupled with perseverance and continuous learning has put him in good stead to lead IT teams of the future.

Over 15-year telecom IT experience; Comprehensive knowledge background, technology, and business; Global vision & experience; Fast learning ability for new technology and industry trend; Good leadership.​

Over 15 years of experience in designing innovative business solutions for CSP; Skilled in BSS, OSS, cloud computing, application development, and virtualization. Demonstrating effective communication and presentation skills, developing opportunities in global market.