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Meet Our Alumni: Viliam Druska

17 February, 2026

In our new blog interview, CERGE-EI PhD alumnus Viliam Druska, now Senior Director of Regulatory Economics at Ooredoo in Doha, Qatar, shares what it means to work at the intersection of telecom networks, regulation, and strategy—helping create frameworks that support innovation, protect consumers, and encourage long-term investment.

Telecommunications became his professional home, partly because the sector mirrors real life in fast-forward. Markets evolve quickly, investment cycles are long, and regulation can either enable progress or stall it. As Viliam puts it,  “Telecoms is… one of the best real-world laboratories for competition policy, network economics, and regulation.” In practice, that “laboratory” includes questions that affect millions of customers: how new entrants can compete with established networks, how operators recover the cost of building and upgrading infrastructure, and how rules shape incentives to invest in better coverage, speed, and resilience.

In his current role, Viliam and his team work on the regulatory strategy that helps a major telecom operator operate responsibly while continuing to invest. That can mean contributing to policy discussions, navigating access to scarce public resources like spectrum, and ensuring compliance—always with an eye on long-term outcomes. A recurring theme in his work is balance: regulators want affordability now, but networks also need sustained investment to deliver reliable service tomorrow. When policy leans too heavily toward short-term gains, it can unintentionally weaken the ability—and willingness—of operators to fund the next generation of digital infrastructure.

Throughout his journey, Viliam credits CERGE-EI with providing the kind of training that travels well across countries and industries: disciplined thinking, an international environment, and a mindset focused on clear reasoning under uncertainty. “CERGE-EI changed my trajectory; I’m excited to see how it shapes the next generation’s,”  he reflects. 

Read the full interview on the Blog.