The Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance (NGMN) has appointed her to replace Peter Meissner, who retires next week after 14 years.
Döhler (pictured), who has been with the Accenture innovation centre in Essen since 2016, previously worked for Vodafone for 15 years on mobile commerce and other projects. She also runs a personal coaching business in Düsseldorf. She starts her new role on 1 July.
She said: “I am looking forward to contributing to the future of communication together with the leading operators, vendors and research institutions of the world, as well as new players from other industries that are joining the telecommunication ecosystem.”
Emmanuel Lugagne Delpon, group CTO of Orange and chairman of the board of NGMN, said: “She is a long-term telecoms industry executive, with hands on operator and vendor experience. Her qualifications are outstanding, and we are looking forward to working with Anita to drive the next step of the evolution of telecommunications technology in a dynamically growing ecosystem and with new requirements, that are not only technically driven, but have become an integral part of the ecological and societal challenges of the future.”
Döhler said: “With 5G starting on a quite successful growth trajectory, NGMN is now going to accelerate the full 5G realisation in our work programme. You can expect to hear more from us soon.”
Lugagne Delpon paid tribute to Meissner’s work for the alliance, which counts operators such as AT&T and Bell Canada to Veon and Vodafone as its members.”
He “led NGMN through the development of the 4G white paper, the subsequent LTE-based work programme, the 5G white paper and the following 5G work programme and, recently, the initiation of ‘Beyond 5G’.”
He added: “Peter drove the growth of NGMN to an active and impactful organisation with a strong global presence. We thank Peter for his leadership and relentless drive for the success of NGMN and the partnership and wish him all the best for his well-deserved retirement.”
Döhler has a qualification in telecoms engineering from a university in Novosibirsk, Russia, after which she worked for Philips on telecoms switching systems. She also worked for E-Plus Mobilfunk, the German operator then owned by KPN.
