Long-time T-Mobile US technology executive Neville Ray has started his retirement transition out of the carrier, moving from a direct executive position to an advisory role to CEO Mike Sievert. The carrier is also losing EVP and CTO Abdul Saad.

In a post on his LinkedIn account, Ray wrote he has taken on a new role as president and strategic network advisor to Sievert. The move was expected as Ray initially announced plans to retire in mid-February.

“It’s bittersweet, but with T-Mobile’s network leadership now established, there has never been a better time to announce my retirement,” Ray wrote in a LinkedIn post at that time. “Our technology team has gone above and beyond, delivering countless global wireless firsts, and I’m forever grateful for the friendships and joy this team has brought me. I’m not going anywhere just yet, so more to come from me, but today is a personal milestone day.”

Ray joined T-Mobile US in 2000, when the carrier operated under the VoiceStream Wireless banner. VoiceStream – and fellow regional operator Powertel – were soon acquired by German telecom giant Deutsche Telekom and plugged in under its worldwide T-Mobile operating brand.

Ray oversaw T-Mobile US’s GSM-based transition path from 2G (GSM/GPRS) to 3G (UMTS/HSPA), to 4G (LTE), and on to its current 5G-based network. This also included the integration of acquired CDMA-based networks from MetroPCS and eventually Sprint.

Ray has also been instrumental in T-Mobile US’ more recent updates, taking center stage at the recent MWC Barcelona 2023 event in announcing the latest network updates.

T-Mobile’s 5G network under new management

As part of his job transition, Ray also noted that Saad was also stepping away from the carrier. Saad has been with the carrier for nearly as long as Ray, and was operating in the EVP and CTO role that had been Ray’s.

“Huge thanks and congratulations to Abdul Saad as he steps away to focus on family and new opportunities,” Ray wrote. “He’s been a critical driver of the team’s success for many years.”

The executive moves also see Ulf Ewaldsson, who had been EVP and chief network officer, promoted to Ray’s old position. Ewaldsson joined T-Mobile US in early 2019, having previously served as CTO at Ericsson. During his time at Ericsson, Ewaldsson served under current Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg.

John Saw, who had been EVP for advanced and emerging technologies at T-Mobile US, also moved into his new role as EVP and CTO for the carrier. Saw moved to T-Mobile US as part of the Sprint acquisition, having served as CTO of that carrier for nearly 5 years. Prior to that, Saw served as CTO at Clearwire for 10 years, including a stint alongside Sievert when he was CMO at the wireless broadband provider.

Those network executives will now be in charge of heading up T-Mobile US’ 5G progression.

The carrier is focused on expanding the reach of its mid-band spectrum holdings from 265 million potential customers covered at the end of 2022, to around 300 million people covered by the end of this year.

The carrier is also coming off of peak 5G-related capex spending, with its most recent guidance of that spend tapering down as the year progresses. T-Mobile US late last year sparked a Cisco-powered cloud-native 5G core gateway that expands the flexibility of the carrier’s 5G standalone (SA) core to support all of its 5G and 4G LTE traffic.

Ray, during the MWC Barcelona 2023 event, also told SDxCentral that the carrier remained open to using open radio access network (RAN) technology to further bolster its 5G network operations.

He explained the carrier’s lack of open RAN depth was due to timing, noting the technology lacked maturity when the carrier kicked off its expansive network upgrade program.

“For us, we didn’t go down on open RAN path when we made our big vendor decisions three years ago,” Ray said. “The pace and scale that we were moving on, features and capabilities we needed, the ecosystem just was not ready. And the O-RAN guys will tell you that.”

Those RAN decisions involved five-year contracts signed in early 2021 with Ericsson and Nokia to supply 5G RAN equipment for T-Mobile US’ $40 billion network upgrade. Those vendors have lagged the broader ecosystem in commercializing open RAN equipment.

However, Ray did preface his comments by stating, “I think the ecosystem’s maturing.”

“We’ve made massive investments into single RAN in our network environment, and it’s not like we’re repeating that soon,” Ray said. “But clearly, we’re continually evaluating open RAN opportunities. We believe that the ecosystem will be stronger with open RAN. But there isn’t a deployment thing that T-Mobile US is doing now.”

DT has majority control of T-Mobile US

T-Mobile US’ latest executive moves also come as parent company DT regained majority control of its U.S. operations. DT CEO Timotheus Höttges told investors earlier this month during the carrier’s 2023 shareholders’ meeting that it issued Japan’s SoftBank 225 million treasury shares for a 3.7% stake in T-Mobile US. Those shares cost DT nearly $5.8 billion, but provided it with a controlling stake in the U.S. operator.

“This is an important component of our success,” Höttges said of regaining ownership control of T-Mobile US.

Höttges touted several financial benefits in acquiring clear control of what he called “the world’s most valuable telecommunications company.” This included T-Mobile US’ surge in value over the past decade, which accelerated with its $26.5 billion acquisition of Sprint; several billion dollars in “synergies” this year; and an announced T-Mobile US share buyback plan that will further increase DT’s liquidity.

DT was sitting on a 48.4% stake in T-Mobile US at the middle of last year, but wanted “to achieve a clear 51% shareholding in the U.S.,” Hottges said during DT’s second quarter of 2022 earnings call.

DT controlled 62% of T-Mobile US prior to its Sprint acquisition that closed in 2020. The deal watered down DT’s control to around 42%, with SoftBank, which owned Sprint, controlling a 27% stake. (The rest was floating in the stock market.)