Executives from Bouygues, EE, Telekom Austria and Telekom Deutschland have been shortlisted for Mobile Europe’s second annual CTO of the Year award, celebrating excellence and innovation in the European telecoms industry.
In order to judge the award, which is supported by Amdocs, Mobile Europe brought together a panel of experts to identify the stand-out CTO of the past 12 months. Operators across the continent are looking to consolidate and expand LTE services, trial virtualisation and ready their networks for the IoT in the face of surging mobile data demand.
At the same time, the CTO role continues to evolve with executives playing a central role in the key strategic decisions an operator has to make, from how to respond to internet players to helping to improve the customer experience. Â
The first nominee is Yves Legrand from Bouygues. The operator has faced considerable competition amid the cut-throat French market and has forced through significant job cuts. In spite of this, Legrand and his team have been able to achieve 72 percent LTE coverage in less than 18 months since it launched. Other achievements include shifting 2G and 3G traffic onto fewer radio carriers while maintaining the same network quality.
Legrand was hailed by the judging panel as a shrewd operator who is able to get things done in the face of severe organisational and financial pressures. He was praised for his operational skills and quality of the LTE service.
The second shortlisted CTO is Fotis Karonis from EE. The operator boasts the largest number of LTE subscribers across Europe, in spite of the UK being one of the latest countries to launch 4G. It is testing micro-site technology and aims to launch voice over LTE during the next 12 months. The operator has regularly scored highly on regulator and independent analyst tests about the quality of its 4G network.
The judges said Karonis had played a pivotal role in preparing EE for the next years of growth, as well as achieving impressive 4G rollout figures during the past 12 months. While the operator did benefit from a headstart on its rivals by launching LTE early, its subscriber base of more than 7.7 million continued to grow as rivals launched their own networks.
Gunther Ottendorfer at Telekom Austria Group was the third name on the shortlist. Ottendorfer has led the technology team for the past 18 months, with virtualisation at the centre of his executive strategy. The operator has trialled network function virtualisation across a number of territories, as well as rolling out LTE and testing carrier aggregation.
Ottendorfer was seen as a canny operator and someone heavily involved in strategy and decision making. The judges felt he helped Telekom Austria punch above its weight and place itself alongside some of Europe’s bigger players. Ottendorfer was also seen as a vocal exponent of the role of operators innovating.
Finally, Bruno Jacobfeuerborn at Telekom Deutschland rounds off our shortlist. The CTO has been heavily testing carrier aggregation technology, hitting speeds of 580MBps by applying 2x20MHz of spectrum and 4×4 MIMO. He also led the project to make Macedonia the first country where an operator switched its entire network to all-IP. Telekom Deutschland also launched a hybrid fixed-mobile router to its customers.
Jacobfeuerborn was praised for the innovating router and in his role as a competent all-rounder, ensuring a range of different technology types was being implemented and trialled, without the core network suffering. His public role also impressed, with Jacobfeuerborn being named chairman of the NGMN alliance.
The judging panel comprised Caroline Gabriel, Research Director at Maravedis Rethink, Kester Mann, Principal Analyst at CCS Insight, Bengt Nordstrom, CEO at Northstream, Jason Ramsden, Director of RAN Services at Amdocs, and Marc Smith, Group Editor at Mobile Europe and European Communications.
The winner was judged according to his operational excellence, innovation, proof of customer experience, impact and agenda setting skills.
Last year’s winner was Telefónica’s Enrique Blanco. The winner of this year’s award will be revealed when Mobile Europe publishes its latest tablet edition during Mobile World Congress.