There are big changes happening in the c-suite at Dish — and the greenfield 5G operator has also laid some employees off, a source tells Silverlinings.
First off, executive VP of network development Dave Mayo is retiring in September. Current EVP and chief network officer Marc Rouanne will become EVP of global partnerships for the 5G and satellite TV provider.
Their roles and responsibilities will be taken on by Eben Albertyn in September as the new chief technology officer (CTO) at Dish. Albertyn was most recently executive director of technology at VodafoneZiggo. He previously served as CTO at Vodafone Netherlands.
Mayo joined Dish in June 2020. At the operator, he was responsible for Dish's wireless build-out strategy and execution of the company's deployment of a standalone (SA) 5G network. On June 15, 2023, Dish passed its mandated target of covering more than 70% of Americans with its 5G network.
Mayo previously told Silverlinings that the nascent operator only hit its 5G targets because it was running its 5G SA core on the AWS cloud. He also had a poke at the Scandinavian telco hardware mafia on 5G base station manufacturing — Dish is building its own cloud-native open radio access network (O-RAN)-compliant base stations.
Previously, Mayo had risen up the ranks to SVP at T-Mobile, spending 23 years at that operator before joining the 5G contender. Dish said that Mayo will transition to a strategic advisory role with the company after his retirement.
Ex-Nokia exec Rouanne joined Dish in November 2019. He was hired with Stephen Bye, a former CTO at Sprint, who left in January 2023 to become president of connectivity at Ziff Davis.
Exec changes, staff cuts
Dish has been struggling to fund its 5G build-out since revealing that its revenue has halved in its latest earnings call, raising questions around if the lack of earnings will translate into job cuts as the operator looks to maintain its position in the costly business of building out a 5G network.
When asked about wider layoffs at the company, a Dish spokesperson gave Silverlinings a somewhat ambiguous answer: “Like most businesses, we continually evaluate and adjust our workforce to meet the needs of our business. While there may be fluctuations on some teams due to functional demands and performance issues, we are actively hiring throughout the company."
But, sources have confirmed to Silverlinings that they’ve been impacted by the cuts at Dish — layoffs have been rolling across the business for months.
This story was updated on Weds., July 12, 2023 at 12:15 PM ET.
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