Verizon’s Kyle Malady to handle CTO duties—including 5G—as Hans Vestberg heads to corner office

Kyle Malady is serving as Verizon’s interim CTO while Hans Vestberg works to move from that position and into the role of CEO.

Verizon didn’t provide any other details about Malady’s work or the company’s efforts to find a permanent CTO.

Nonetheless, Malady’s rise to the interim CTO position is noteworthy considering Verizon is in the midst of a major network upgrade that involves both deploying new fiber as well as densifying its wireless network in advanced of the launch of 5G services. And he’s also likely intimately involved in Verizon’s ongoing efforts to shave $10 billion in costs by 2021, an effort partly involving a reduction in network expenses.

Indeed, Malady is now overseeing a significant rise in Verizon’s network spending. As noted by Deutsche Bank Markets Research in a May report to investors, Verizon spent fully $4.6 billion on its network during the first quarter, which the firm said was 29% more than it had expected for the period and almost 50% more than what Verizon spent on its network during the same quarter last year. Overall though, Verizon has said its capex for 2018 will clock in at $17.6 billion, roughly the same as last year. (The analysts at Scotiabank estimate around $12 billion of that will go toward the carrier’s wireless network.)

Verizon just last month announced CEO Lowell McAdam would retire from the company at the end of this year, and that his successor will be Vestberg. Verizon hired Vestberg in 2017 as the company’s CTO; Vestberg previously worked as the chief executive of Ericsson.

Malady for the past several years has served as Verizon’s SVP and chief network officer of wireline for Verizon. Previously, Malady was vice president-new product development at Verizon Wireless, where he had responsibility for developing new products and services and played a key role in launching platforms such as VCast Music and Video, VZ Navigator, Push to Talk, VZ MobileWeb, the Verizon App Store and other platforms. He also played key roles in the development and commercialization of other network based platforms such as LTE and device operating systems such as Android. Malady began his career in 1989 with NYNEX Mobile Communication.