Spectrum Management Advisory Group Members Announced

DTI Press Release - 12 March 1998

The names of the Chairman and Members of the Spectrum Management Advisory Group (SMAG) which will provide independent, strategic advice to Ministers and the Radiocommunications Agency on spectrum management policy issues have been announced in the Report stage of the Wireless Telegraphy Bill by Barbara Roche, Minister for Small Firms, Trade and Industry.

Speaking last night, she said:

"I am glad to announce that Dr John Forrest has agreed to become the first Chairman of the SMAG. Dr Forrest will bring to this position a wide experience of radio use in the defence, broadcasting and telecommunications industries. I am confident that he is ideally qualified to lead to the Group in its task of providing independent, strategic advice to Ministers on the management of the radio spectrum.

"I am also today placing in the library of both Houses a list of the members of the Group. They represent between them a wide range of experience and expertise, covering all the major categories of spectrum user. I see it as important that the Group should have direct access to Ministers and I look forward to working with it in the months ahead".

Notes to editors

The members of the SMAG are as follows:

Dr John R Forrest (Chairman) is Chairman of the Brewton Group Ltd. He is a non- executive Director on the board of 3i Group plc, and on the board of a number of technology companies in the broadcast, communications and information industries. Following careers in the academic world and defence industry, he joined the Independent Broadcasting Authority in 1986 as Director of Engineering. In 1990 he led the privatisation of the IBA Engineering Division, becoming Chief Executive of the new organisation, National Transcommunications Ltd (NTL). He was Deputy Chairman of NTL from 1994 to 1996. He also acts as a consultant on communications and information technology to industry and to the European Commission. Since l994 he has taken a major role in the development and establishment of the technical standard for digital television through the European DVB project and currently leads a group, working within the Government's foresight programme, assessing future regulatory requirements for the broadcasting, communications and information technology environment. 

Dr Mark Armstrong is official Fellow in Economics at Nuffield College, Oxford. He regularly acts as an economic consultant to OFTEL and was, until recently, a member of OFTEL's Fair Trading Advisory Body.

Professor Sue Birley is Director of Research and Professor of Entrepeneurship at the Management School, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine. In March l996 she was appointed a Director of the NatWest Group and has joined the Bank Remuneration and Audit and Compliance committees. She has been working in the field of entrepeneurship for more than twenty-five years as both academic and practitioner.

Dr Kevin Bond joined Yorkshire Water Services Limited in 1996 as Chairman and Managing Director and became the Chief Executive of Yorkshire Water plc in 1997. In 1990 he joined the National Rivers Authority (NRA) as a Regional General Manager, became the Director of Operations and then Chief Executive. Dr Bond started his career as a Police Constable in 1972 and progressed to Chief Superintendent before leaving in 1990.

David M Brown has been Chairman of Motorola Ltd since l997. He is a Chartered Engineer, a Fellow of the Institution of Electrical Engineers and sits on the Council of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, the Board of the
Federation of the Electronics Industry and the Council of the Confederation of British Industry. He is President of the Association for Science Education, a professional body for Britain's science teachers. In August l997 the Government announced his appointment as Chairman of the University for Industry Design and Implementation Advisory Group. He is also Chairman of the Vocational Qualification and Occupational Standards Committee of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority.

Keith Harlow has been Director of Technology, BBC resources, since February 1997, having spent some 30 years with the BBC since graduation. He has particular responsibility for digital and other new broadcasting production technologies, telecommunications, IT and multimedia applications. He was previously head of Radio Production Resources, having held a series of managerial posts in television. He is a member of the Royal Television Society, the Radio Academy and the IBC Council.

Dr Mohamed Ibrahim is Chairman and founder of Mobile Systems International. He is also a director of Peoples Telephone (Hong Kong), AirTel (India), Celtel (Uganda) and Misrfone (Egypt).

Stephen Lowe is Product Development Director of Eurobell Holding plc,a UK cable operator with franchises in the South East and South West of England. He is responsible for the development of new systems, especially wireless local access, for telecommunications and television. He is Deputy Chairman and Secretary of the Broadband Wireless Association, an industry association formed to encourage harmonisation of broadband radio of a world-wide basis.

Michael Short is Director, International Affairs, for Cellnet. He co-ordinates Cellnet's international relations and leads Cellnet's activities in the development of Third Generation Mobile Systems (UMTS). In this capacity he is an active participant in several industry bodies, including the European Technical Standards Institute (ETSI) and the UMTS Forum. He chairs the UK Public Radio Telecommunications Committee of the Federation of Electronic Industries (FEI). He was previously Chairman of the GSM MoU Association, the body representing GSM operators worldwide. He was a founder representative of the GSM Mobile Data Initiative and the Global Mobile Commerce Forum, and is a Board Member of the UK Mobile Data Association.

Andrew C Sleigh is Director General of Information and Communication Services in the Ministry of Defence. He was previously Managing Director Analysis in the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) of the MoD.

The Chief Executive of the Radiocommunications Agency will also be a member of the Group.

The SMAG

John Battle, Minister for Science, Energy and Industry, announced the establishment of the SMAG during Second Reading of the Wireless Telegraphy Bill on 29 October (DTI Press Notice P/97/704). The SMAG will report to Barbara Roche, the Minister responsible for the Radiocommunications Agency. Its terms of reference are to provide independent, strategic advice to Ministers on spectrum management policy issues to the responsible DTI Minister and the Radiocommunications Agency. In particular the SMAG should advise on:

(i) the RA's spectrum strategy, major national allocation decisions and the application of spectrum pricing; and
(ii) the policy objectives to be pursued in relevant international fora (eg ITU, CEPT and ETSI).

Its Chairman and Members have been drawn from users of the radio spectrum, related industries and other representative organisations., In making appointments to the SMAG, the key criteria which Ministers have taken into account have been the ability to: take a longer term strategic view; set aside sectional interest in favour of policies for the most effective overall use of spectrum; and take account of the interests of users, manufacturers and other organisation and groups.

Collectively the Group should be respected by the Agency's customers as having the ability to contribute effectively on a broad range of policy issues and enable technical and economic considerations to be taken into account.

  Top