We are international leaders in structuring telecom sector financing, policy and regulation in emerging markets
Our Team
Will Burnfield
Founder and Managing Director
Will advises international banks and governments on telecom privatizations, PPPs, financing, policy and regulation. Will brings an experienced, multidisciplinary approach based on his years of work in telecom policy, regulation, finance and business. His advisory work spans over 25 emerging markets in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, Africa, Middle East, Central Asia and Asia Pacific. Will has advised on policy and financing for numerous national and regional fiber optic backbones and submarine cables. He co-authored EBRD’s comprehensive Electronic Communication Sector Comparative Assessment of 32 Countries in Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Southern and Eastern Mediterranean.
As Managing Director, Global Investment Banking at CIBC World Markets, Will advised telecom companies regarding financings, mergers and acquisitions during a period of rapid sector deregulation. As a Vice President and Director, Investment Banking, Mr. Burnfield was responsible for CIBC World Markets' Latin American investment banking.
Will and his family have lived in Buenos Aires and Hanoi and now live in Toronto, Canada. Mr. Burnfield has testified as an expert financial witness at regulatory rate of return hearings. Mr. Burnfield is a telecommunications expert on the Appeals Panel for the Telecommunication Regulation Authority of the Federated States of Micronesia, which acts when there is an application for a review of a decision of the Authority. Mr. Burnfield taught Corporate Finance in the MBA Program at Canada’s leading business school, the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto where he was recognized with an award for excellence in teaching.
Will has advised in the following countries:
Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine
Africa and Middle East Egypt, Eswatini, Jordan, Liberia, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, Tunisia
South America and Caribbean Chile, Grenada, Guatemala, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Island Nations Grenada, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, São Tomé and Príncipe, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Katia Duhamel
Telecom
Legal Expert
Katia has 25 years of experience as a lawyer within the communication sector, and is a leading expert in telecommunications regulation and contracts. Katia Duhamel has extensive experience with the major telecommunications infrastructure programs of the World Bank in the ICT sector: CARCIP, WARCIP (West Africa), CAB (Central African Backbone), RCIP IV. Katia is author of the authoritative text: “Local government Agencies and Telecommunications, Initiatives, Rights and Contracts.”
While at the international law firm of Bird & Bird, she advised operators and public authorities on telecom sector regulation and implementation of public-private partnership projects for deployment of broadband networks. Katia also led the firm’s telecom practice in Africa.
Prior to joining Bird & Bird, Katia was Legal and Regulatory Manager of network operator Noos and the Suez/Telefónica consortium, and managed regulatory issues for the French Association of Telecommunication Operators and Service Providers. Katia’s current work continues to focus on telecom sector transactions in emerging markets, having advised in over 20 transitional economies over the past 20 years. Katia holds a Postgraduate Degree in Corporate Public Law and Economic Law, from University Paris X, France, and was admitted to the Paris Bar in 2008.
David Townsend
Telecom Economics, Markets,
and Policy Expert
David is among the world’s leading international experts in telecommunications and ICT sector development, policy, economics, and regulation. For more than 30 years, Mr. Townsend has been actively involved in promoting the transformation and expansion of dozens of telecommunications markets worldwide through the establishment of strong competitive regulatory frameworks and institutions. He has advised governments and regulators in more than 50 countries, as well as regional and international organizations, on licensing, market structure and cost analysis, tariffs and pricing, interconnection, competitive enforcement and oversight, universal service, broadband strategy, and a range of other key issues. He has designed market and economic models of the telecom sectors in dozens of countries, including assessments of access gaps and forecasts of growth impacts of broadband investments. David holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government of Harvard University and a degree in Asian Studies from Dartmouth College.
Colin Dabisza
P. ENG, MBA, PMP
Associate Consultant,
Telecom Financial Expert
Colin is a Project Manager with with Cisco Canada. He has 17 years experience in the telecom sector including extensive advisory work with governments and regulatory agencies in transitioning economies such as Moldova, Montenegro, Georgia, Liberia, Nigeria, Mozambique and Eswatini.
At Cisco he is responsible for leading comprehensive Network Optimization Service (NOS) programs, next-generation data center projects, video, security, and Wi-Fi engagements with large financial services clients and Service Providers. At Cisco, his responsibilities included managing the responsibilities of local and Global Services Network Consulting Engineers (NCEs). Previously as a Project Executive with IBM, Colin was responsible for the management and delivery of large IT services engagements between IBM and multi-national customers.
Colin is a Licensed Engineer with the Professional Engineers of Ontario (PEO). He holds an MBA from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering from the University of Alberta. He is also a Project Management Professional (PMP). Colin's previous experience in Telecom and IT includes Nortel Networks (CDMA, GSM, UMTS), Wi-LAN (WiMAX), and Fujitsu Microelectronics Europe.
Sonia Jorge
Telecom Policy
and Regulatory Expert
Sonia is the Founder and Executive Director of the Global Digital Inclusion Partnership (GDIP), and an experienced leader and international digital policy expert. As a policy advisor and gender equality advocate with experience in over 45 countries, she has led numerous digital policy and development projects in several regions and with international organizations, such as the World Bank, UNDP, UN Women, ITU, and for private sector companies and associations.
Sonia was recognized by apolitical as one of the World’s 100 Most Influential People in Digital Government in 2019. She serves or has served as a member and expert in committees, including CGAP’s Data Project, DFID’s Digital Access Panel for Africa, the ITU-UN Women EQUALS Partnership, The World Economic Forum’s Future of the Internet Initiative, the Broadband Commission Working Group on the Gender Digital Divide, and the EU-AU Digital Economy Task Force.
Sonia was the co-founder and Executive Director of the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) until September 2022. She has a Masters in Public Policy from Tufts University and degrees in Economics and Business Finance from the University of Massachusetts.
Gerard Dupin
Telecommunications Engineer and Submarine Cable Expert
Mr. Dupin is a telecommunications engineer specializing in the design, deployment and management of high-speed networks, including international terrestrial backbones, FTTH and metropolitan networks, domestic fiber optic backbones and submarine links. He has conducted numerous strategic, economic and technical studies for the deployment of national backbones for the World Bank and governments across the globe. Mr. Dupin has an engineering degree from the École Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications de Paris.
Mr. Dupin has held various executive positions within France Telecom Orange, in operational departments in the areas of switching and access and transmission networks, and in the Submarine Cable Department where he was responsible for the Engineering Department. He has been engaged for almost ten years in the engineering, design and implementation of various France Telecom submarine fiber optic cable projects (Channel, Mediterranean Sea, Atlantic and Pacific Oceans). He also has extensive experience in route design and cable protection, and has been Chairman of the International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC). Subsequently, he joined Global Crossing as General Manager for France, where, for three years, he was in charge of setting up the local organization and roll out of the network, both long distance and metropolitan networks and various submarine sections of the PEC network.
Piers Burnfield-Wiebe
Sustainability and
Environmental Expert
Piers advises on sustainability and environmental components of GVIC’s projects and provides administrative support. His work has focused on sustainable industries, systems thinking and enhancing the circular economy. He studied International Development at University of Toronto and Environment Sustainability at Dalhousie University in Canada. He is on the Executive of the International Development Association of Dalhousie University.
Emilio González Islas
Finance and
Credit Risk Expert
Emilio advises on credit risk assessment as well as financial and non-financial risk management. He is a Financial Analyst at the Central Bank of Mexico, where he focuses on finance for development, spanning the financial, energy, and infrastructure sectors. His expertise in research, quantitative analysis, data visualization, and data science is focused on development finance and climate policy. Emilio is a candidate for a Masters degree in Public Administration at the London School of Economics and Political Science, where he is specializing in Data Science for Public Policy.