ARCIA Perth one-day conference presentations | 22 March 2023

Andrew May

Executive Manager, Spectrum Engineering Australia

Andrew is the Executive Manager of Spectrum Engineering Australia and has been with Spectrum Engineering for 19 years. During this time he has amassed a broad and intimate working knowledge of the regulatory environment and the coordination and licensing requirements for radio services in Australia. He now leads a team of professional engineers who provide licensing solutions to all sectors of the radio industry including the major carriers, government and the private sector.

Andrew holds a Bachelor of Computer Engineering with First Class Honours from the University of Wollongong. He holds accreditation under the Australian Communications and Media Authority to issue Frequency Assignment Certificates and Interference Impact Certificates, and holds Approved Radio Certifier (ARC) status under New Zealand’s Radio Spectrum Management (RSM) branch.

Peter Hilly

Director, Spectrum Engineering Australia

Peter Hilly is an engineer and the Director of Spectrum Engineering Australia. He spent the early years of his professional engineering career working for Government, including a five year period with the then Department of Communications, Radio Frequency Management Division, eventually occupying the position of Head of the Spectrum Planning Group.

He left the Department in 1986 to establish Spectrum Engineering Australia as the first independent provider of frequency management services in this country. In 1995 he became the first person to become “accredited” under the new Radiocommunications Act to issue frequency assignment certificates.

Peter has a background of some 40 years of continuous “hands on” experience in spectrum management in Australia and has been involved in this business on both sides of the counter.  He has followed the development of the spectrum regulatory process in Australia over the lifetime of five regulatory bodies since to Post & Telecommunications Department of the late nineteen-seventies and was witness at the birth of the two Radiocommunications Acts, 1983 and 1992.

Peter holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree from the University of NSW, and an MBA from the University of Canberra.

Hamish Duff

Managing Director, Mastercom; President, ARCIA

Hamish is the Managing Director of Mastercom and a founding Director of the Orion Network. A specialist in wide-area radio networks, Hamish has a genuine understanding of the pressures faced out in the field and the role that efficient communications plays to help people every day.

Hamish is passionate about transforming businesses through the application of digital mobile radio technology. With a career in communications spanning more than 30 years, Hamish is skilled in making the complex simple —engineering communication solutions to support the needs of all users—from the control room to the field. A member of the Australian Radio Communications Industry Association (ARCIA), Hamish is highly regarded for his technical competency and in 2009 was awarded an ARCIA technical excellence award.

Simon Lardner

Co-Founder, Challenge Networks

Simon is the co-founder of Challenge Networks, a telecommunications system integrator specialising in the design, build and management of small-scale carrier networks around the world. 

More recently, Challenge has become a world leader in the deployment of private LTE networks for the resources sector. Simon has over 27 years of international experience in the telecommunications industry specialising in mobile network design and implementation.

Paul Elmes

Managing Director (Asia-Pacific), Tait Communications

Originally from the UK, Paul emigrated to New Zealand in 2006 where he worked for Tait Communications as a product manager and principal engineer until early 2010.

An engineer by training, Paul began his career as a research scientist at the UK’s Defence Evaluation and Research Agency. During this time, Paul completed a doctorate on the development of novel sonar transducers for the Royal Navy.

Paul has a broad background of experience across both the public and private sectors, holding senior positions in government departments, educational establishments and commercial enterprises.

Paul returned to Tait Communications in 2016 as the Product Line Manager for the P25 portfolio.  Most recently, he was the VP of Product Management, responsible for Tait’s global product portfolio.

Peter Scarlata

CEO, Simoco Australasia

Peter Scarlata has over 25 years of experience working at senior levels in national and multinational engineering, system integration, product management, sales and marketing and general management in companies such as Bosch, Intelematics, CNG Systems and most recently Simoco Wireless Solutions.

Peter’s qualifications include a Bachelor of Engineering (B.Eng.), Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering and a Bachelor of Applied Science (B.App.Sci) in Computer Science. He has led system integrator CNG Systems, where he drove the organisation into a period of significant company growth focused on the transport infrastructure and government verticals. Furthermore, Peter has held several senior positions over a 17 year period at multinational company Bosch in both the automotive and proaudio sectors and has spent time globally in Germany, US, China and Australia leading teams of product managers, engineers and purchasing personnel in driving high volume, quality and value electronic, audio and RF products to market.

Peter has been the CEO of Simoco Australasia for over 3 years and is responsible for business growth within the Australasia division. His focus is on important infrastructure projects and overseeing all management, system engineering, sales and marketing activity, as well as national and multinational product management and development. Peter is a strong advocate for Australian R&D and manufacturing which Simoco Australasia contribute to.

Dale Stacey

Managing Director, SAT Pty Ltd

Dale Stacey has spent more than 25 years in the telecommunications industry. He is a Chartered Engineer (IET,UK and IEAust, Australia and a member of IEEE,USA) and has an extensive range of knowledge and experience in the worldwide radio communications sector.

Dale has managed and delivered many major projects through all phases of their life cycle, from concept and strategy, through development of the business case, design, optimisation, installation, integration, test and commission, acceptance and maintenance. Dale has gained experience of such projects from a number of perspectives, including that of the supplier, vendor, buyer, user, integrator and consultant.

Dale’s previous experience includes numerous design and implementation assignments for major public utilities both worldwide and within Australia (electricity, gas, oil and water), and telecommunications carrier projects (GSM, 3G and microwave projects for Telstra, Optus, Vodafone, BT).

More recently, he has been involved in extensive coverage analysis, optimisation and drive testing of private networks, and 3G and 4G networks. He is currently working on the 5G revolution and other private network innovations in emergency services, smart city and IoT.

Brad Welch

General Manager, TPL Systems, Asia Pacific

Starting as an Apprentice Radio Technician in Mt Isa, Brad has over 30 years’ experience in the Critical Communications industry including over 25 years’ experience in Critical Messaging.

This experience has seen him working for companies such as Hutchison Telecoms (now Vodafone Messaging), Selective Communications in New Zealand, WiPath Communications Australia and now TPL Systems Asia Pacific. Brad has been heavily involved with providing critical response solutions and support in the Emergency Services and Healthcare markets.

Brad’s strength is listening to the customer and their requirements, using his experience to provide the most suitable outcomes to shorten critical response times and maximise the customer experience.