Keynotes and Perspectives

Tuesday, May 22, 9am - 12.30pm

9am start
Keith Willetts, Chairman and CEO TM Forum
Nicholas Negroponte, Co-founder & Director MIT Media Laboratory and Chairman & Founder One Laptop Per Child Foundation
Bonnie Gray, Chief Network Officer UPC Broadband 

10.45 - 11.15 - break

11.15 - 12.30
Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman, Ogilvy UK
Stefano Pileri, Chief Technology Officer Telecom Italia

12.30 - lunch


  • Expand your horizons
  • Learn different players’ strategies
  • Get the full picture of industry convergence

Hear an unprecedented line-up of Global Industry Leaders provide their perspectives on where everything is heading on.

Throughout the conference we will be looking at the impact of convergence from different perspectives including that of market intelligence and service creation, product portfolio management, IT & Operations, service quality & customer service, billing and revenue assurance. So, as our opening, we have assembled a line up of four leading industry players each with their own unique perspective of what convergence will mean.


Nicholas Negroponte
Speaking during the 9 - 10.45 slot

Nicholas Negroponte,

Co-founder & Director,
MIT Media Laboratory		 Chairman & Founder
One Laptop Per Child Foundation

An industry visionary, Mr. Negroponte was one of the first to predict the digital revolution, forecast the move from wireline to wireless and foresee the delivery of a new generation of services like IPTV. But now a decade or more on what does he see happening next? Find out how he is now an advocate of driving down the costs of communications and related technology – not solely in pursuit of better margins for the service provider, but in bringing technology to parts of the world currently economically not viable. His “One Laptop per Child” initiative explores the global benefit from equipping a new generation with technology and access to the sort of communications we take for granted in our day to day lives.


Speaking during the 11.15 - 12.30 slot		 Stefano Pileri,
Chief Technology Officer
Telecom Italia

Mr. Pilieri is CTO and Managing Director at Telecom Italia, and his session will prove that the telecom operators are taking a far from traditional view in their plans for a new range of converged services. In his role at Telecom Italia, he was one of the first operators to promote fixed mobile convergence, one of the first to promote broadband as a mass market technology and one of the first to start to offer entertainment services over the existing telecom infrastructure.
Rory Sutherland
Speaking during the 11.15 - 12.30 slot

Rory Sutherland,
Vice Chairman,
Ogilvy UK

Representing the Internet & new media generation, Mr. Sutherland is Vice Chairman of the Ogilvy Group in the UK, a household name in advertising for the last 20 years. He will share his views on some startling effects of convergence which he sees will rewrite the rules of industry -- how subscribers will pay for services and therefore how service providers will get their revenue. He sees the impact not just on how services are billed but radically changing the whole revenue assurance and payments chain, something that will have major change on our existing view of telecom and media services.

Bonnie Gray
Speaking during the 9 - 10.45 slot

Bonnie Gray,
Chief Network Officer
UPC Broadband

As the telecom world moves to offer entertainment and the entertainment world moves to offer telecom services – convergence is a reality. So what will convergence mean for the cable industry, often seen by many as the provider of choice for TV and video services? Bonnie is Chief Network Officer at cable operator UPC Broadband and so well positioned to provide a view on what impact the convergence of telecom and entertainment services is having on the cable industry. What does she see happening now and how does she see this changing in the future?


Each with their own unique views – but together an entirely new perspective to kickoff the conference. Make sure you don’t miss out on this opportunity to hear from an inspiring ensemble of keynote speakers leading the way in the industry.