Huawei has signed former BT Group CTO, Matt Bross as its new global CTO – the first senior global telco exec to join the fast-growing Chinese vendor.
Bross left his BT post in July citing “personal reasons” and returned to the US with his family. During his four years at BT the company rolled out its 21CN next-gen network program and embarked on structural separation.
It is understood that Bross, who takes up his post on October 1, will have a hands-on global role while based in the US, spearheading Huawei’s efforts to win major North American contracts.
It is not clear what role he will have in Huawei’s home market, which is still the company’s biggest, accounting for 25% of contracts signed this year.
It also remains to be seen how comfortable the outspoken Bross will be in the reclusive Huawei corporate culture, where CEO Ren Zhengfei, who has not given an interview in a decade, advocates a low-profile, “action before words” business philosophy.
Huawei executive vice president Ken Hu described Bross as a communications technology visionary. “He is also a business leader with a strong spirit of innovation and will help Huawei better understand customer requirements to create more business value,” he said.
Bross said Huawei’s solutions, “developed through customer -centric innovation, have won wide recognition among the world’s top operators. I look forward to working closely with Huawei ’s technology and management teams in developing a world-leading solutions portfolio that fully meet customer requirements.”