Dish Network set to lose another executive, with the latest exodus coming from its wireless network executive ranks. The changes come on the heels of a broader push by the company to slash spending for the build-out of its open radio access network (RAN)-based 5G network.
The nascent operator announced that Eben Albertyn would be taking the EVP and CTO roles for its wireless business beginning in September. In that role, Albertyn will oversee Dish Wireless’ network technology strategy and operations.
The move will see Albertyn replace a pair of current Dish Network executives. Dave Mayo, who is currently EVP of network development, is set to “retire … and transition to a strategic advisory role with the company” upon Albertyn coming on board. Marc Rouanne, currently EVP and chief network officer, will move to a new role as EVP of global partnerships, including a focus on new enterprise business opportunities.
Albertyn comes from Dutch telecom joint venture VodafoneZiggo, where he has served as executive director of technology. He had previously served in various chief technology roles at Vodafone Netherlands and at telecom operators based in Africa.
“Eben has operated in fast-moving environments where highly engaged leadership, communication and teamwork matter, like they do at Dish,” John Swieringa, president and COO at Dish Wireless, noted in a statement. “He brings a deep understanding of both wireless infrastructure and IT, which is key given our first-of-its-kind, cloud-based open RAN network architecture.”
Dish Network also announced that Satish Sharma has been promoted to EVP of network deployment where he will oversee the ongoing build of Dish’s wireless network.
Dish Network’s executive shuffle
Mayo and Rouanne have been instrumental in Dish Network’s jagged path toward hitting major coverage milestones.
The carrier last month pushed its network reach to more than 70% of the U.S. population, which was a coverage mark dictated by government requirements for some of Dish Network’s spectrum licenses.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requires licensed spectrum owners to meet specific coverage requirements based on a certain percentage of the U.S. population that those licenses cover. These rules vary based on different spectrum bands but are in place to ensure that a license owner is putting those licenses to work for the common good and not just sitting on those licenses to sell at a later date.
Dish Network’s newly bolstered coverage is on the back of more than 15,000 deployed antennas using open RAN technology and an underlying cloud-native architecture. That equipment is provided by more than 30 vendors, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Nokia, Dell, Cisco, VMware, Samsung and Mavenir.
The departing Mayo has been at Dish Network for just over three years, having come off of a nearly one-year “sabbatical” and previously serving for more than 23 years in senior roles at T-Mobile US. Rouanne has been at Dish Network for nearly four years.
Those moves come just weeks after Dish Network COO Narayan Iyengar abruptly resigned. Iyengar had been with the company for just 17 months, and had his duties absorbed by Swieringa.
Dish Network earlier this year lost Stephen Bye, who had been its EVP and CMO and joined the company in late 2019. Bye moved to be president of digital media conglomerate Ziff Davis’ Connectivity division, where he oversees Ziff Davis’ Ookla, Ekahau, RootMetrics, and related properties.
Dish Network’s tortuous wireless path
The executive changes come as Dish Network is working aggressively to slash costs and turnaround its shaky financial stance.
The carrier to this point has been spending billions of dollars to build out its cloud-native 5G network to meet coverage deadlines tied to the $34 billion it has spent on wireless spectrum licenses. Dish Network Chairman Charlie Ergen had previously noted that the carrier’s full build could run up to $10 billion, and late last year it was forced to dip into the finance markets at a time when interest rates spiked.
Ergen more recently noted that the carrier would begin to cut spending once it hit the 70% coverage requirement. That spending lull will be a self-admitted important time for Dish Network to prove it can be a competitive wireless carrier in the market.
“We have a narrow window of opportunity here … to perform and execute and address our capital structure,” Ergen said during Dish Network’s most recent earnings call. “We have to do a lot of things right. We have a small margin of error but it’s all doable.”
That opportunity includes market penetration into the lucrative enterprise vertical as a private 5G network player. Ergen had previously stated that the private network business could be worth anywhere from $30 billion to $100 billion, and that “it’s unquestionable that there’s really only four companies that can participate in a large degree in the private network business that has” access to licensed spectrum.
Ergen admitted during the earnings call that it has not “made substantial progress in terms of the enterprise business in terms of announcements, but behind the scenes” the company has outlined ways to enter the market. This outline will now fall upon Rouanne to execute.
"dish" - Google News
July 12, 2023 at 01:51AM
https://ift.tt/f7bpTrH
Dish Network continues to bleed 5G executives - SDxCentral
"dish" - Google News
https://ift.tt/CAvOGM7
No comments:
Post a Comment