Ex-Deutsche Telekom executive Abdu Mudesir resurfaced at US rival Verizon as EVP and president of the operator’s global networks, platforms and technology (GN&T).

The move to Verizon pits Mudesir in direct competition with T-Mobile US, which is majority owned by Deutsche Telekom.

Mudesir will succeed 30-year veteran Joe Russo, who is retiring over the coming months. He will sit on an 11-member leadership team reporting directly to CEO Dan Schulman.

Russo is currently EVP and president of global networks and technology.

A representative for Verizon told Mobile World Live (MWL) the company hired Mudesir following a thorough global search.

“He has a brilliant track record in building 5G capabilities, scaling fibre architecture, and is a recognised pioneer in Open RAN, cloud infrastructure, and AI-driven network automation,” the representative stated.

Mudesir, who served as Deutsche Telekom’s head of product and technology, left the company abruptly in late March 2026 after eight years in various roles.

Verizon noted it is still finalising the exact dates for the transition, but stated Russo remains fully in charge of GN&T for now and will be staying through Q1 2027 to ensure a seamless transition.

“Abdu is obsessed with the customer experience and network excellence,” Schulman said in an internal announcement to employees. “He will help drive the convergence of Network, Platforms, Technology, Products and AI, using our unrivaled connectivity and the transformative power of AI to define what comes next for our business and the customers we serve.”

The post Former DT exec migrates to US rival Verizon appeared first on Mobile World Live.

Deutsche Telekom (DT) added 81 mobile sites to its footprint and upgraded capacity at 548 existing locations in Germany, as it continues to expand its 5G network, improve performance and bridge coverage gaps.

The work included 14 new sites in the southwestern state of Baden-Wurttemberg, 13 in North Rhine-Westphalia and 12 in Bavaria.

DT stated its 5G network now reaches around 99% of households nationwide, while 4G household coverage is almost 100%.

The operator also moved to strengthen 5G performance by ending dynamic spectrum sharing with LTE in the 2.1GHz band.

Telekom Deutschland CTO Alexander Jenbar explained the decision is because “5G has become the standard for our customers” and the changed would boost capacity and stability.

The network expansion is also set to benefit customers of its MagentaZuhause Hybrid services, which combine mobile and fixed network capacity.

DT stated the service can now deliver download data rates of up to 500Mb/s and upload of 50Mb/s without fibre access.

Ultra capacity
DT highlighted the upgrades would deliver higher data rates and more capacity, particularly in areas where fixed broadband speeds remain limited.

The boost forms part of a wider ultra-capacity network plan, which aims to deliver download capacity of 1Gb/s per cell to 90% of mobile sites.

DT also plans to expand fibre links to 85% of sites, and use low-band and mid-band spectrum to improve latency, coverage, capacity and network responsiveness.

The post Deutsche Telekom boosts 5G capacity appeared first on Mobile World Live.