Vodafone CTO Steve Pusey Retires

Steve Pusey, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at the Vodafone Group will step down in July after nine years at the operator and will be replaced by Ericsson executive Johan Wilbergh.

Pusey, who joined from Nortel in 2006 and was appointed to the Vodafone board three years later, is retiring following a spell which has seen him oversee the international expansion of 3G and the deployment of 4G in 15 countries.

More recently, he has assisted with the company’s £19 billion Project Spring investment programme and the acquisition and rollout of fixed line networks in Germany, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain and the UK.

Vodafone CTO change

“Steve has been an outstanding colleague who has made an immense contribution to Vodafone, and I would like to thank him for his wisdom, focus and commitment,” said Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao. “He will leave as his legacy a business strongly placed for success as a result of his efforts, including most recently his leadership of Project Spring which is well on track and already delivering significant benefits for our customers.”

“Vodafone is a great company and it has been a great privilege to share in its journey over the last eight years,” added Pusey. “I have worked with the best people in the industry and have made friendships that will last a lifetime. I will leave the Vodafone technology community in excellent hands and wish Johan every success.”

Wilbergh has been at Ericsson since 1996, where he is currently executive vice president and head of networks. He will join Vodafone in May to work alongside Pusey during a transition period and will report directly to Colao, who was full of praise for Wilbergh’s achievements at the Swedish network equipment manufacturer.

“I would also like to welcome Johan to Vodafone: his background and skills are strongly complementary as we continue our transition to a global data company and I look forward to working with him closely,” Colao said.

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