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 ABOUT US

OpenSky Consulting is a young consulting company with independent senior consultants all having long experience working in the ICT / Telecom industry, primarily having worked for large mobile operators. We work on executive level and take on strategic assignments within our area of expertise (commercial, technical, operational ...).

 

Today and in the next years, businesses and societies will need to digitalize and transform into intelligent and data driven operations predominantly based on wireless communication. Internet of Things (IoT) will be prevalent in most areas of life and in many cases also run by Artificial Intelligence (AI). We will have smart communities, smart factories, smart infrastructure, smart homes – and “smart everything”. ICT service provides as well as enterprises and communities will all need to prepare!

 

The company’s main areas of activity are strategic advisory services in the areas of ICT, digitalization and business transformation - and specifically also in the field of mobile communications. We have strong competence and experience in mobile technologies and evolution ever since 2G – and have been looking into technical and business considerations around 5G and IoT for some years already.

 

The company’s other main area of activity is available for any industry horizontally across sectors. We have long experience in the HSSE, risk and sustainability area - and specifically also responsible supply chain management , climate change and renewable energy.

 

Our services are suited for digital service providers as well as (small and large) private companies and the public sector preparing for 5G or digital transformation - or any company with a focus on HSSE, sustainability or security. We have our main experience from working at various levels and in various functional units in mobile telecom operator groups for many years, e.g. from Telenor, Telia, Vodafone and VEON, and also from the GSM Association and DNV.

 

We take on short- or medium-term international assignments given capacity. Our associates have different nationalities and are based in several countries, but the company HQ is in Oslo, Norway.

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Stein Hansen
Founder and CEO
(LinkedIn)

Stein has worked in the telecom industry for over 35 years in many roles and with various top and middle management positions, in operational units as well as in corporate staff functions – and has been a pioneer in the global mobile industry in several ways, in the areas of mobile standards as well as business internationalization, industrialization and globalization. Stein had key industry roles early on in the development of 2G as well as 3G at European and global level - and has also spent a number of years working for the global expansion of mobile technology and mobile operator interests through engagement with and governance of industry consortia like e.g. the GSM Association. In most of his life, Stein has mostly worked for mobile operators - but also as a supplier to these - and in the recent years he has started up a few companies in Norway.

 

On the business side of things, Stein has had various leadership roles in Telenor’s international expansion e.g. through assignments in Germany and Malaysia. He has also contributed to the industrialization of Telenor Group, e.g. on technology and technology strategy across the group – and on building up Telenor’s global approach to HSSE and supply chain sustainability. He has also done security management within Telenor and at industry level.

 

Stein has managed small and large organizations as CEO or CTO and has had technical as well as commercial and social responsibilities, including Board experience, and has broad knowledge in the ICT industry. He also spent several years managing industry relations for Telenor Group, working directly with two Group CEOs, covering industry matters across the board, but primarily on strategic technology matters.

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Olav Omtveit
Senior Associate
(LinkedIn)

Olav worked in different positions in and for Telenor Group for 37 years before he took an early retirement. However, it did not last long before he started working again as a consultant - this time on the customer side of the table.

 

Olav has worked across all business and functional areas in telecommunications, primarily mobile telephony, and has a unique cross-functional expertise and overview. With an IT engineering background moved into commercial and financial domains he can contribute to complex projects by seeing the challenges and opportunities across the whole business.

 

Olav has worked as project manager, line manager and as middle manager in operational units across Norway, Europe and Asia. as well as in corporate commercial and IT strategy functions.

The last 10 years in Telenor Group unit Olav was focused on efficiency and customer experience through digitization and automation of customer phasing processes and IT operations and development processes.​​​​

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Olai Bendik Erdal
Senior Associate
(LinkedIn)

Olai Bendik Erdal has 35 years of experience as an acknowledged and trusted innovator, project manager, business developer and researcher in international telecom and media businesses. He has also been co-founder of a multimedia company and a music school and as advisor to start-up companies and students working on innovative technology-based services. He is trained in Executive Management, Project Management, Strategy and Service Design Methodologies and has managed projects on developing innovative business models enabling third party content services in the telecom network in Norway - and on Internet and broadband services offered by Telenor’s mobile operators in Bangladesh and Thailand.

 

The latter years he has been engaged in research and development towards 5G and 6G, especially focusing on service requirements for use cases in healthcare, media, industrial automation, defense and public protection and disaster relief (PPDR). Currently he is engaged in the development of mobile networks as alternative and complementary infrastructure for positioning, navigation and timing (PTN). He has also worked on outage risks of operational technology (OT) due to shutdown of 2G/3G networks and on mobile virtual private networks – and has a general interest in innovative use of network technologies.

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Eric Ekern
Senior Associate
(LinkedIn)

Eric is an experienced executive with background from multiple functional areas. His competence has been built through 20+ years in senior management positions at Telenor Group mainly in Supply Chain Sustainability, Corporate support, HR and implementation of global cross-functional projects. He has in-depth knowledge of areas such as Sustainability and Corporate responsibility, Health, Safety and People Security and Crisis management in a global, complex organization.

 

Eric has served as advisor to Senior Corporate Management on strategic corporate initiatives. Seeing corporate needs, developing strategies and operationalizing these have been important success-factors building on his ability to establish robust structures and frameworks. He is known for implementation skills and has a proven track record integrating corporate policies and initiatives into complex organizations in different cultures. He has hands on experience with developing teams and implementing strategies.

 

Since 2020 Eric has had a range of consulting assignments within Health & Safety, investigation of serious incidents/accidents, implementation of shared services location strategies and sourcing of IT projects.

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Tommy Ljunggren
Senior Associate
(LinkedIn)

Tommy Ljunggren is a Senior advisor and non-executive director with 35 years of experience in the telecom industry, primarily with Telia Company and VEON. He was also one of the founders of the consultancy firm Northstream (now part of Accenture). 

 

Tommy has a technical background and has held various management roles, including board member, CTO, managing director, and general manager. He is a certified board member and serves on the boards of Kaelus AB and Fastr - and on the advisory board of Radtonics. Earlier he has been a director of the board at NGMN Ltd and in shared mobile network JVs in Sweden and Denmark, as well as Vice Chairman of the board at Wireless@KTH R&D Centre.

 

Tommy has led multiple reorganizations and transformations, served as an external spokesperson and expert witness, and been involved in international bodies like ETSI/3GPP, GSMA, NGMN etc. Recently, he has been an advisor for Proptivity in the setup of a neutral host operator providing 5G indoor multi operator coverage in the Nordics and UK. He also worked on the 2G/3G sunset and EMF issues in Sweden for the industry organisation TechSweden.

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Dr. Andy Hudson
Senior Associate
(LinkedIn)

With broad experience in the telecoms and technology sectors, Andy has a particular interest in spectrum (auctions and valuation) and the impact of new technology (5G, AI, IoT and Big Data). He brings a deep understanding of both the industry and regulatory perspectives around the world having been Head of Policy for the GSMA.

Previously, as Director of Spectrum Policy at Ofcom, he led the Mobile Data Strategy, including the release and sharing of public sector spectrum for civil use, and the auction team. Before that, Andy spent 12 years at Vodafone, where he held various senior product development, corporate strategy and policy roles. As Head of Spectrum Policy, he was responsible for managing spectrum policy and auctions across the Vodafone Group. He was frequently in Africa, India or Europe, supporting Vodafone’s local operating companies, and managed the acquisition or renewal of spectrum in over 20 countries.

 

In 2000, he was part of the senior management team which spun an internet payments and encryption company out of NatWest. He was formerly a management consultant and a research scientist at Sharp Laboratories of Europe and Sony Corporation, based in Japan. He has a doctorate in Engineering Science from Oxford University and an MBA.

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Haakon Rud
Senior Associate
(LinkedIn)

With over 40 years of experience from expert and management positions within QA, HSSE, risk management, working conditions, and sustainability, Haakon has a wealth of knowledge from his work at operational companies, DNV / Veritas and Haakonsult AS.

 

Haakon has industry expertise coming from projects across diverse sectors, including engineering, procurement, construction, maintenance, manufacturing, logistics, Offshore and Subsea, Shipyards, Tourism and Hospitality, Real Estate, Music Festivals, fish farming and food, telecom and electricity, recycling and more.

 

Haakon combines deep industry knowledge with practical experience to offer comprehensive solutions for improving safety and health, sustainability, and efficiency. Typical assignments for Haakon would be to deliver for preventing serious incidents, and learning from serious incidents.

 

Pre-Incident Services: Competence building, risk assessment/management, communication, culture, and advisory or assessment activities.

 

Post-Incident Services: Extracting learning and investigating serious incidents such as accidents, process failures, emissions, fires, explosions, traffic incidents, machinery breakdowns, material issues, working conditions and other areas

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Svein-Gaute Bleivik
Senior Associate
(LinkedIn)

Svein-Gaute has extensive experience from the national and international telecom business, fixed PSTN/ISDN and mobile network operators. Being a pioneer from Telenor’s international mobile operations with senior technical positions held in European and Asian operations as in Germany, Ireland, Malaysia and Bangladesh in their greenfield start-up GrameenPhone - now Telenor's largest MNO, and as senior technical advisor in Telenor Group on mobile operations. He has held responsibilities within forecasting, site/node/infra planning and IT-tools, roll-out/in, budgeting and project management leading cross-functional and multinational teams.

 

Post Telenor Group he has engaged in Asset Recovery and Reverse Logistics, Renewable Energy, Microwave & Fiber Network Planning tools, Secure Communication, Internet Access Control, Mesh WiFi Tech and Services, whilst contributing to several start-ups. He is still eager to participate in and initiate improved solutions for communication technology and services, clean energy, global environment and human health, last several years engaged in biogas (Bangla/India) and photovoltaic (Norway) energy projects for planning and roll-out. Svein is known for his analytic, systematic and structural skills, catching important details whilst holding the overall picture. He may act as a devil’s advocate.

© 2019 by OpenSky Consulting AS.

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