8. Robert Dotson - Most Powerful People in Wireless

Robert Dotson, president and CEO, T-Mobile USA

What makes him powerful: As the leader of the No. 4 carrier in the U.S., Dotson has carefully crafted T-Mobile USA's reputation for being the smallest nationwide operator with the biggest innovations--both in technology and pricing scenarios. In fact, despite its smaller subscriber base, T-Mobile has managed to keep its larger competitors (namely Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility) on their toes.

Dotson, who has been president and CEO of T-Mobile USA for six years, is clearly a marketing executive at heart and perhaps that's why T-Mobile's moves over the past year have seemed so smooth and calculated. Dotson, a former PepsiCo executive, is credited with re-securing T-Mobile's high-profile spokeswoman, Catherine Zeta Jones.

Under his watch, T-Mobile asserted its Android leadership this year. The company, which was the first carrier to launch an Android device, the HTC-produced G1 last year, now has four Android devices in its portfolio [1], making it the most Android-friendly operator in the U.S.

But T-Mobile's device strategy hasn't been enough to overcome the carrier's slowing growth. In the second quarter it had just 325,000 net adds, down from 415,000 in the first quarter [2]. The company blamed the decline on increased churn.

To compensate, T-Mobile decided to introduce two unlimited rate plans in hopes of mitigating its losses and fending off competition from flat-rate carriers such as Boost Mobile, MetroPCS, Leap Wireless and others. Those plans, Even More and Even More Plus [3], offer unlimited voice, texting and Web browsing for a set fee ranging from $79.99 to $99.99 depending upon whether a subsidized device is included in the plan.

But those state-of-the-art devices and all-you-can-eat rate plans don't mean much to consumers unless the network they are using is providing adequate bandwidth. Here again, T-Mobile has craftily maneuvered to give its network more oomph despite its spectrum limitations. The firm, which has deployed UMTS/HSPA in 176 cities, announced last month that it will upgrade to HSPA+ nationwide in 2010. If it fulfills this plan, the action may give the operator the greatest data speed in the biggest footprint--at least until other operators are able to catch up with their 4G deployments. --Sue [4]