Today DISH announced that Eben Albertyn will join DISH as an executive vice president and chief technology officer of its wireless 5G business. Mr. Albertyn will oversee network technology strategy and operations for DISH Wireless, responsibilities currently held by Dave Mayo and Marc Rouanne.
“Eben has operated in fast-moving environments where highly engaged leadership, communication and teamwork matter, like they do at DISH,” said John Swieringa, president and chief operations officer, DISH Wireless. “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.”
Eben recently served as executive director of technology at VodafoneZiggo, a joint venture between Vodafone and Liberty Global. Prior to VodafoneZiggo, he served as chief technology and information officer of Vodafone Netherlands, and held numerous technical leadership positions at telecom providers in Africa, including chief technology officer (CTO) at MTN South Africa and Group CTO at Airtel Africa.
This comes as Dave Mayo, executive vice president of network development, announced he will retire in September. Mr. Mayo will transition to a strategic advisory role with the company. Mr. Mayo joined DISH in 2020 to build the world’s most advanced 5G network. He led the DISH Wireless team to reach its goal of covering 70 percent of the U.S. population this year as DISH 5G network grew to more than 240 million Americans.
“Dave has helped change the way the world communicates,” said Charlie Ergen, co-founder and chairman, DISH Network. “Dave was a champion of DISH’s vision even before he started with us. His tireless efforts have helped put us in a unique position to revolutionize wireless connectivity in America. I couldn’t be more proud of all that he has accomplished.”
Back in June DISH announced that its new 5G wireless service is now available to over 70% of the U.S. population. This comes as DISH now has over 15,000 5G sites running their networks.
Currently, most of DISH Wireless customers use the T-Mobile or AT&T networks. As DISH builds out its own network, it will allow them to move its customers to its own network helping cut costs for DISH going forward.
Right now, over 240 million Americans live in an area DISH offers 5G internet service.