Lee Sanders
Lee has been at the forefront of spectrum developments across the world for more than 20 years, helping operators to bid in auctions and regulators to formulate spectrum policy.
Lee has over 20 years’ experience of advising operators, regulators and government bodies across a broad range of topics, including network sharing, fibre networks and transaction support. Notably, Lee has extensive expertise in spectrum issues and has led numerous projects to help operators to develop spectrum strategies and to value spectrum. He has supported operators to prepare for and bid in more than 25 spectrum auctions worldwide. He has also led several high-profile spectrum-related studies for leading regulators such as the European Commission, Ofcom (UK) and the IDA (Singapore).
In 2015/16 Lee was seconded to Telstra’s network strategy team, where he led a range of spectrum and network strategy projects.
Lee holds B.A. and M.Eng. degrees in Manufacturing Engineering, both from the University of Cambridge, UK.
Examples of projects which illustrate the breadth of Lee’s experience include:
Support to mobile operators to prepare for more than 25 spectrum auctions worldwide – including consultation support, valuation, bid strategy development and round-by-round auction support.
Support to a European regulator to design the process for a major multiband spectrum auction.
Development of a detailed 5-year network strategy for a European mobile operator.
Business case assessment for the second mobile licence in the Bahamas, followed by bid strategy support during the auction.
Business case assessment of RAN sharing for two mobile operators in Western Europe and subsequent assistance in the creation of a new joint venture.
Assessment of the business case to decommission the PSTN/copper network for a fixed operator in the Asia-Pacific region.
Assessment of the case for deploying Network Function Virtualisation (NFV) across an operator’s mobile, fixed and broadcast networks.
A report for the BBC and Channel 4 to investigate the merits of AIP for broadcasting spectrum.
Study for the European Commission to assess the competition impacts of zero-rating in broadband markets.
Assessment of the mobile and fixed markets in a Middle Eastern country to identify regulatory actions of priority.
Evaluation of the business case for alternative operators to use fibre unbundling on behalf of a Western European regulator.
Articles & reports
Auction vs Extension: which path is best for expiring licences?
20 February 2025
Spectrum licences awarded in the past two decades are now expiring in many countries and with this many regulators face an important decision: should licences be extended […]
No cash, no problem: can cashless spectrum auctions work?
17 February 2025
Cashless spectrum auctions are a proposed novel award model where bidders do not pay cash for spectrum licences, but instead commit to coverage or infrastructure rollout obligations. […]
Telco delayering: where might it take us?
1 November 2024
‘Delayering’ – the separation of telecoms business into their infrastructure and service components – is becoming increasingly popular. Countless mobile operators have carved out their towers, snapped […]
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