John Ridley Email & Phone Number

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Project management and design of nationwide TETRA network of Libya.Management of the project design, implementation and customer acceptance. Detailed capacity analysis, spectrum strategy, interference identification and mitigation.

Bahrain And Uk

Based upon considerable experience of designing customer experience programmes in telecommunications, I’ve provided social media and data analytics services to several small and medium sized businesses in the UK and Middle East. Collection of data from disparate sources (from web sites, loyalty schemes, social media, telecoms network data etc) to analyse and predict customer behaviour - using Google analytics, mathematica, SQL databases and other software tools. Then working with… Show more Based upon considerable experience of designing customer experience programmes in telecommunications, I’ve provided social media and data analytics services to several small and medium sized businesses in the UK and Middle East. Collection of data from disparate sources (from web sites, loyalty schemes, social media, telecoms network data etc) to analyse and predict customer behaviour - using Google analytics, mathematica, SQL databases and other software tools. Then working with marketing departments to develop market strategies and campaigns based upon data analysis.Consultant to a major, international web based travel company - Design and implementation of a data analysis and visualisation system for analysis and profiling of customers, by geography, social and economic background, travel preferences, airline schedules, ticket costs, hotel standards, locations and commissions paid to the company. Show less

Middle East

Bahrain based Middle East correspondent and political analyst for several major newspapers and broadcasters in Europe, America, New Zealand and the Middle East - covering current events, conflict, and the growing the regional water and food crisis, through to Islam and Arab culture.Radio presenter and researcher - monthly radio programme on international efforts to prevent internet based abuse of children - for a major US radio network.Written, produced, and presented several… Show more Bahrain based Middle East correspondent and political analyst for several major newspapers and broadcasters in Europe, America, New Zealand and the Middle East - covering current events, conflict, and the growing the regional water and food crisis, through to Islam and Arab culture.Radio presenter and researcher - monthly radio programme on international efforts to prevent internet based abuse of children - for a major US radio network.Written, produced, and presented several documentaries on behalf of Deutsche Welle Radio International, Radio New Zealand, and an international 24 hour television news station.Writing monthly columns for several national and international news and lifestyle and publications.Editor - Al Khaleej Tourism Guide, responsible for twelve-month forward plan, design, content and production. Speaking at GCC based conferences, trade shows, GCC radio and TV stations, and cooperating with airlines, and the Ministry of tourism to promote Bahrain as a major tourist destination. Show less

Uk And Europe

Investigative journalist and broadcaster on food, nutrition and food / water politics.Nutritional advisor for adults and children suffering from food intolerance and allergies.Writer on cooking and nutrition, focusing upon coeliac and other food intolerances and allergies.

Uk And Bahrain

Advisor on rural broadband and high speed mobile services, to several regional councils, regional development trusts (who are becoming, or partnering with, network operators) and network operators in the UK and Middle East. Focusing, in particular, upon writing and maintaining regional broadband strategy and planning guidelines, identifying market size (based upon complex scenario modelling), analysis of long term economic benefits / ROI to rural economies, technology options, network… Show more Advisor on rural broadband and high speed mobile services, to several regional councils, regional development trusts (who are becoming, or partnering with, network operators) and network operators in the UK and Middle East. Focusing, in particular, upon writing and maintaining regional broadband strategy and planning guidelines, identifying market size (based upon complex scenario modelling), analysis of long term economic benefits / ROI to rural economies, technology options, network functionality and longevity, and usage of wireless spectrum. Show less

Manama, Kingdom Of Bahrain, Amman, Jordan And Beirut, Lebanon

Recruited to support multiple Middle Eastern projects supporting Huawei’s local project teams, responsible for building and maintaining relationships with, CTO and board level managers for the company’s Middle Eastern clients. Assigned as project director for failing Huawei 3G swap and LTE rollout projects in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Lebanon. In each project, Huawei was increasingly exposed to high financial penalties through slipping delivery dates and performance bonds… Show more Recruited to support multiple Middle Eastern projects supporting Huawei’s local project teams, responsible for building and maintaining relationships with, CTO and board level managers for the company’s Middle Eastern clients. Assigned as project director for failing Huawei 3G swap and LTE rollout projects in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Lebanon. In each project, Huawei was increasingly exposed to high financial penalties through slipping delivery dates and performance bonds. Successfully returned the projects to budget and schedule through negotiation with the clients, reassessment of working practices and project plans, tight management of staff and subcontractors and improved communications and coordination with the clients. Managed all internal project, media, and government communications for Huawei projects in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Lebanon; including drafting press releases and editorial for use by local media, international telecommunications media and internal corporate publications. Show less

London, United Kingdom

Airborne Networks AssignmentAssigned to replace the incumbent CTO, taking responsibility for the implementation and roll out of a replacement network across greater London - whilst maintaining service to customers.Responsible for the engineering budget and managing all network related capital and operational expenditure, all technical and engineering aspects, network performance, customer perception, operation of the WiMax radio, core and transmission network, and acted as… Show more Airborne Networks AssignmentAssigned to replace the incumbent CTO, taking responsibility for the implementation and roll out of a replacement network across greater London - whilst maintaining service to customers.Responsible for the engineering budget and managing all network related capital and operational expenditure, all technical and engineering aspects, network performance, customer perception, operation of the WiMax radio, core and transmission network, and acted as design authority for the replacement network.Introduced data analysis and visualisation techniques to the company, training engineering and marketing staff to visualise and understand technical and financial aspects of the business, optimising the network performance against capital and operational costs, and allowing the business to recognise and react quicker to changes in customer demands and churn. Show less

Exeter And Middle East

Airborne Networks is a UK based wireless mesh network vendor and managed services provider, focusing primarily upon the mobile communications industry. Managed the Middle Eastern and Asian managed services business, and was assigned to projects in the UK, Middle East and Asia as interim CTO, project director, and as a consultant in radio frequency interference mitigation, 2G, 3G and WiMax performance and optimisation, and management, technology and analytics.

Riyadh, Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia

Project Director for acceptance and cut over of the national radio and core networks and national & international interconnect. Responsible for the end to end network design and management of vendors in the development of the end to end network architecture.Built mathematical models for capacity planning and performance, financial optimisation of the network, service modelling, subscriber profiling and business case modelling - leading to significant performance improvements and cost… Show more Project Director for acceptance and cut over of the national radio and core networks and national & international interconnect. Responsible for the end to end network design and management of vendors in the development of the end to end network architecture.Built mathematical models for capacity planning and performance, financial optimisation of the network, service modelling, subscriber profiling and business case modelling - leading to significant performance improvements and cost savings. The methodologies developed and used can best be described as “performance, capacity, geographic and financial optimisation” and involved the modelling of every significant element within a network as well as the collection and analysis of data on subscribers from customer records, customer services, usage patterns, demographics and web sourced data. Show less

Riyadh - Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia

Project Director for network performance improvement of four different vendor networks across the whole Kingdom for 2G, 3G / HSPA. Management of budget of US$36 Million, I was the sole technical interface between STC and Huawei for the project.Responsible for End to end network performance, interoperability between 2G and 3G / HSPA networks, traffic and service planning, capacity enhancement techniques, identification and resolution of transmission network issues, and building of new… Show more Project Director for network performance improvement of four different vendor networks across the whole Kingdom for 2G, 3G / HSPA. Management of budget of US$36 Million, I was the sole technical interface between STC and Huawei for the project.Responsible for End to end network performance, interoperability between 2G and 3G / HSPA networks, traffic and service planning, capacity enhancement techniques, identification and resolution of transmission network issues, and building of new sites where necessary (1000 sites in total).Designed and managed customer experience monitoring programmes and subsequent analysis, using data derived from the network, location based information and customer records, to better asses performance of the network and customer perceived performance. Show less

Abu Dhabi - United Arab Emirates

Project manager and RF specialist for a nation-wide radio network performance audit and the and design and implementation of customer experience programs, correlating the data with network performance data and business planning activities within the company.

Sana'A - Yemen

Project manager and RF specialist for a nation-wide Alcatel radio network performance audit, Development of traffic and radio strategy for the GSM network as it prepared to migrate to UMTS. Consultation on spectrum coordination and interference control

London, United Kingdom

Research and prepare recommendations for a revised regulatory framework for radio spectrum management for allocation of wireless based applications into license exempt spectrum bands.Research into the feasibility of clearing a tranche of 900 MHz GSM spectrum for re-allocation to a new 900 MHz UMTS operator

Tehran - Islamic Republic Of Iran

Airborne Networks AssignmentDirector of Engineering for a $ 40 Million nation-wide 1000 site network expansion project using Nokia hardware and for the network optimisation / performance of the existing and expanded network.Planning of trial 3G network in Tehran to understand coverage, capacity and performance issues.Audit of the performance of the Nokia GSM network and analyse possible development scenarios in order to deploy EDGE and possibly UMTS.Writing a… Show more Airborne Networks AssignmentDirector of Engineering for a $ 40 Million nation-wide 1000 site network expansion project using Nokia hardware and for the network optimisation / performance of the existing and expanded network.Planning of trial 3G network in Tehran to understand coverage, capacity and performance issues.Audit of the performance of the Nokia GSM network and analyse possible development scenarios in order to deploy EDGE and possibly UMTS.Writing a detailed 3G strategy paper including spectrum management, interference management and clearance strategies in preparation for the deployment of EDGE. Show less

Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia

Working with the Malaysian telecommunications regulator to define spectrum requirements for DiGi’s 2G (EDGE) and potential 3G networks. Established and chaired an industry wide forum addressing EMF health and safety in Malaysia.Performing feasibility studies addressing technical, market, cost and hardware redeployment leading to detailed engineering re-designs.Design of customer experience programmes and subsequent data analysisSpectrum valuation and management… Show more Working with the Malaysian telecommunications regulator to define spectrum requirements for DiGi’s 2G (EDGE) and potential 3G networks. Established and chaired an industry wide forum addressing EMF health and safety in Malaysia.Performing feasibility studies addressing technical, market, cost and hardware redeployment leading to detailed engineering re-designs.Design of customer experience programmes and subsequent data analysisSpectrum valuation and management of technical aspects of 3G spectrum bid.Management of the rollout of mobile television across Kuala Lumpur on the EDGE radio network. Defining engineering guidelines and procedures for the further rollout of EDGE and mobile television across urban Malaysia. Show less

Riyadh - Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia

Working with the Saudi telecommunications regulator to define spectrum requirements for Saudi Telecom’s 2G and potential 3G networks.Spectrum valuation and advising of technical aspects of 3G spectrum bid.Perform feasibility studies addressing technical, market, cost and hardware redeployment leading to detailed engineering re-designs.

Responsible at a corporate level for design, development and performance of the company’s network of 8000 radio sites, managed a budget of £30 million.Contributed to and prepared evidence submitted by Orange to The Parliamentary Select Committee on Science and Technology on mobile phone safety.Co-ordination of the Orange’s radio, core network, service and handset strategies.

United Kingdom

Managed Cellnet’s Radio Design Group and was responsible for development of the companies radio strategy and radio network architecture for GSM, high-speed data (GPRS) and UMTS.Technical representative on a company wide committee addressing the regulatory aspects of the impact of ICNRP guidelines being introduced.

Yemen Arab Republic, United States Of America And United Kingdom

Established and managed Motorola's core GSM RF systems engineering group, responsible for defining systems engineering standards for Motorola's existing and future Base Station Systems.Europe wide responsibility for GSM cellular systems design, strategic RF and network systems expansion planning and availability planning, frequency planning, network optimisation and systems performance problems.

United Kingdom And The Sultanate Of Oman

Commissioned BBC’s Nicam VHF radio distribution network and MF / LF radio, VHF radio and UHF television transmitting sites in Central Scotland.Operation and maintenance of BBC TV transmitting stations in Central Scotland.Responsible for technical operation of the BBC Eastern Relay Station In The Sultanate of Oman.Operation and maintenance of all broadcast equipment including four 100KW HF transmitters, two 1MW MF transmitters, a local VHF transmitter, HF and MF antennae.

Masirah Island, Sultanate Of Oman

Secondment from BBC as Broadcast engineer - Sultanate of Oman

Doctor Of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Middle Eastern Studies

Social Media Marketing And Engagement, Social Media Marketing And Engagement

Master’S Degree, Use Of Social Media In Journalism (November 2015)

Post-Graduate, Journalism - Print, New Media And Broadcast

Accreditation by National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) and Broadcast Journalism Training Council (BJTC)

Arabic - Non Grad Study, Written And Spoken Arabic

Msc, Mathematics, Statistics And Wireless Engineering

Bsc, Pure And Applied Mathematics

Bsc, Radio Frequency Engineering

Education record