Speaker Bio
Faisal Zia is currently serving as the Technical Director at the GSMA Foundry, the innovation wing of the GSMA. The Foundry is at the forefront of exploring and implementing frontier technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN), and 5G. It collaborates with various partners, including the European Space Agency, IBM, and the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, driving innovation and addressing critical challenges in the telecommunications industry.
In addition to his role at the GSMA Foundry, Faisal serves as the Technical Lead for the Sports and Entertainment Summit at MWC Barcelona, where he plays a key role in shaping discussions on the intersection of technology and entertainment. His leadership ensures that the summit explores cutting-edge innovations and solutions for the sports and entertainment industries.
Before his current role, Faisal was responsible for Network Economics as part of the Future Networks programme. His work in this area involved assessing innovations that deliver capital and operational expenditure savings, with a focus on AI, energy, backhaul optimisation, and infrastructure sharing.
Faisal holds over a decade of telecom experience in both commercial and technical roles, having previously worked at Orange Group, EE/BT, and in various IT, rail, and fintech sectors.