Laurent Thomas is a telecom engineer who graduated from Institut Galilée (Paris Sorbonne University) in 1989.
He developed software for cellular network statistics and time series analysis to optimize network parameters and planning for the SFR operator and Alcatel. He contributed to the development of 3G within the Alcatel-Fujitsu joint venture, as well as WiMAX, before joining Alcatel Research.
After the Alcatel-Lucent merger, he continued to lead a Bell Labs research department focused on cellular networks, overseeing protocols above the PHY layer. Laurent was involved in the creation of the OSA initiative and founded his startup, Open Cells Project, which focused on open-source implementations of cellular networks.