Bagnasco first assumed the chair role in June 2025, leading the organisation through a transitional period in its leadership.

Following a formal board vote, his mandate has been extended as the GLF moves into what it describes as its next phase of strategic development. Nabil Baccouche, group chief carrier and wholesale officer at UAE-based operator e&, was simultaneously re-appointed as vice chair for the same two-year term.

The pair will lead an organisation with more than 170 members representing global carriers and digital infrastructure providers. Their priorities will be shaped by the GLF’s Tomorrow Telco 2 strategy, built around interoperability, innovation, trust and people, with a particular focus on building network infrastructure capable of supporting full AI deployment, automated API-based connectivity, and fraud-free service environments.

Bagnasco framed the re-election as an endorsement of the GLF’s direction, saying he viewed it as a mandate “to continue accelerating the deployment of advanced digital infrastructure and to promote a shared vision of international carriers as the ‘AI backbone’ of global connectivity.”

Baccouche said the GLF had a critical role to play “in strengthening trusted global connectivity, advancing industry collaboration, and fostering deeper cooperation across the international carrier community.”

Sparkle, the international arm of Italy’s TIM Group, owns and operates more than 600,000km of fibre spanning Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the Americas and Asia, and maintains a sales presence across 32 countries. The company offers capacity, IP, SD-WAN, colocation, IoT connectivity, roaming and voice services to carriers, OTTs, ISPs and multinational enterprises.

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