Recent Projects

William has undertaken multiple projects related to satellites. He: 

· Undertook a major project for the UK Space Agency to examine the UK’s access to earth-observation and other space data and the risks and resiliency of using shared and commercial data. This involved extensive benchmarking and analysis of plausible ways to enhance resiliency given the UK’s limited budget and space capabilities.  

· Provided support to a range of satellite operators including Viasat, Telesat, and Vodafone-AST predominantly on regulatory matters including ITU filings and national rights to operate. This included detailed support for Viasat in their efforts to retain their European 2GHz MSS licenses.  

· Undertook a detailed study into the current owners of satellite spectrum that could be used for D2D communications in L-Band, S-Band and C-Band. He assessed the filings and companies in detail, matched them with the business case and spectrum requirements of the major D2D aspirants and set out likely acquisition and merger paths over the coming years.

William is undertaking a multi-year project on behalf of Leidos, a US manufacturer of airport security scanners to deliver an ETSI standard enabling them to sell their scanners in Europe. This involves leading work items through ETSI and substantial work with ECC/CEPT to model potential interference across a very broad band of frequencies (20-40GHz) and multiple use types. Extensive interaction is required with the Leidos technical team to understand emissions and options for avoiding interference in the most sensitive bands.

William acted as an expert witness in a case in Canada over disputes as to which operators had the most reliable 5G and fixed networks, providing advice across matters of network design and measurement including detailed assessment of crowd-sourced and drive-testing companies and their methodologies. The judge, in his summary, stated “in summary, I much prefer the evidence of Dr Webb over the evidence of [other expert witnesses] and accept Dr Webb’s opinions as discussed. His views are logical and have been consistent.”

Working as part of a team led by Access Partnership, William advised the GSMA on regulatory barriers that are preventing the uptake of APIs and how these barriers could be overcome. He then was part of a major project for the UK Home Office to assess the possibility of using cellular APIs instead of requiring operators to provide lawful intercept and equivalent information. This involved a detailed assessment of the API marketplace and the mechanisms for managing privacy.

William delivered a report for Comreg, the Irish Regulator, on future technology trends across fixed and mobile networks and how they might impact regulatory strategy, looking 5-10 years into the future.

Working alongside NERA he developed the technical regulations for an extensive auction in Pakistan covering multiple 4G and 5G frequency bands including covering issues such as cross-border coordination, TDD synchronisation and integration with existing usage.

As CTO at Access Partnership William ran the largest single project in the company – helping Apple deliver satellite connectivity to the iPhone. He managed a team of 20 consultants working on licensing and regulatory requirements around the work and managing satellite resources and filings.

William ran multiple projects for CST (telecoms regulator) including specifying spectrum management offices in each of the government departments that are major users of radio spectrum, building a Digital Regulatory Academy and its set of courses, and implementing a forward-looking spectrum refarming policy.

William provided technical support for a project for the UK Government (DCMS) to determine the economic value to the UK of resilient telecommunication networks. This involved assessing the various forms of network failure and helping economists model the impact of such failures on the economy.

He has undertaken multiple due dilligence projects for both sell-side and buy-side clients including a technical due diligence on Arqiva, a major UK broadcasting organisation, in support of potential sale and acquisition involving a detailed assessment of both the technology and the team needed to maintain and upgrade the network over time.

He was a core member of the team drafting the telecommunications regulations for NEOM – a new autonomous region in Saudi Arabia. This involved working with the vision team to understand the novel concepts in the embryonic cutting edge smart city and then drafting world-leading regulations embodying the latest thinking across all aspects of telecommunications.