New Clearwire (NASDAQ:CLWR) CEO Bill Morrow is shaking up the WiMax operator’s executive ranks. During Clearwire’s first quarter earnings call, Morrow not only named three new C-level appointments, but also revealed President and Chief Network Architect Barry West is moving away from the day-to-day operations in the company. West will keep his title of President but will become a global WiMax ambassador of sorts for Clearwire, promoting the technology to operators around the world.
One of the most recognizable figures in the WiMax industry, West spearheaded Sprint’s original WiMax efforts and is largely credited as legitimizing WiMax as a 4G mobile broadband technology. When West ran Sprint’s 4G division before the Clearwire-Sprint assets merger, he performed a similar ambassadorial role, acting as WiMax’s chief evangelist and delivering speech after speech at conferences around the world. But at Sprint (NYSE:S) West ran the division itself. His new position at Clearwire will put him charge of Clearwire’s international network assets when Clearwire’s primary push is in the domestic broadband market. West will also oversee Clearwire’s global alliances program, which seeks collaboration opportunities with international operators.
Morrow said West’s new role emphasizes his stature in the global wireless community and hopes that West can reverse the trend of negative publicity WiMax has incurred as long-term evolution (LTE) has gained global prominence. “We can demonstrate WiMax is here to stay,” Morrow said.
Clearwire Chief Technology Officer John Saw will take over West’s network responsibilities. As for the other changes, Chief Operating Officer and long-time Clearwire veteran Perry Satterlee is stepping down. No immediate replacement for the COO post was named, but Morrow announced three new appointments. Michael Severt, former CEO of Switchbox Labs, was named to the new post of chief commercial officer. Former Level 3 Chief Information Officer Kevin Hart was tapped as Clearwire’s new CIO. And Laurent Bentitou, who was most recently T-Mobile USA’s vice president of human resources, will become Chief People Officer, supervising Clearwire’s growing staff. Morrow himself only just joined the company, taking over as CEO in March from Ben Wolff, who became co-chairman of the board.
The executive reshuffling took place on a busy day for Clearwire. Earlier today Clearwire announced a partnership with Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) to build its IP core network and develop WiMax devices for end users. After the market closed, Clearwire posted lackluster first quarter results. The operator added only 25,000 net subscribers during the quarter, compared to 48,000 customer gains the first quarter a year ago. While Morrow said that growth on its new Portland WiMax network is two-and-half time faster than that of its fixed broadband markets, subscriber gains on WiMax are being offset by increased churn in its older markets, a trend Clearwire expects to continue as it rolls the 4G network out to at least eight new markets in 2009.
Clearwire officially will launch WiMax service in Atlanta next month, though WiMax.com reports that the service is already available to customers there below the marketing radar. The operator spent $122 million in capex in the first quarter, up from $83 million in the fourth quarter, but still a fraction of $1.5 billion to $1.9 billion it expects to spend this year as it ramps up WiMax deployments.
