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Hans Neff
ZTE, Senior Director of the CTO Group at ZTE Corporation and Deputy CTO for Europe and the Americas
Speaker Bio
Hans Neff is Senior Director of the CTO Group at ZTE Corporation and Deputy CTO for Europe and the Americas, where he leads global technology strategy, innovation, and executive engagement across telecommunications, artificial intelligence, cloud, and digital infrastructure.
With more than 30 years of international leadership experience, Hans advises operators, governments, regulators, and enterprise organizations on the evolution of next-generation digital infrastructure. His work focuses on the convergence of AI and communications, helping organizations transform traditional networks into intelligent, autonomous platforms that power the digital economy. His expertise spans mobile and fixed networks, optical transport, cloud, data centers, cybersecurity, energy, and AI-native architectures.
Hans is a recognized leader within the global telecommunications standards community. He serves as Chair of the TM Forum Autonomous Networks Self-Healing Workgroup, driving the development of industry frameworks for autonomous operations, operational intelligence, and AI-native networks. He is also an active contributor to TM Forum, GSMA, FTTH Council Europe, and other international initiatives focused on artificial intelligence, network automation, digital infrastructure, and future communications architectures.
Throughout his career, Hans has led strategic technology initiatives and advised executive leadership teams across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Latin America. He has played a key role in large-scale transformations covering 5G, fiber broadband, cloud-native networks, AI-driven operations, intelligent transport, sovereign digital infrastructure, and sustainable network evolution.
As an internationally recognized thought leader, Hans is the author and contributor to numerous industry frameworks, white papers, and strategic technology proposals on AI-native networks, operational intelligence, autonomous systems, and the future of digital infrastructure. His work focuses on enabling telecommunications networks to evolve beyond connectivity into intelligent, self-optimizing platforms capable of supporting the next generation of digital services.
Hans is a frequent keynote speaker, moderator, and panelist at leading international events, including Mobile World Congress (MWC), TM Forum DTW Ignite, GSMA conferences, FTTH Council Europe, AI for Good, and global operator summits, where he shares his vision for the future of AI-powered telecommunications and intelligent digital infrastructure.
