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T-Mobile CEO Robert Dotson will be stepping down from his position in 2011, T-Mobile parent company Deutsche Telekom announced May 25.
Dotson, who has been with T-Mobile for 15 years, will help get his successor, Philipp Humm, up to speed before signing off, the company insisted. Humm will take over the position in February 2011, and Dotson will remain on as a non-executive board member of T-Mobile USA until May 2011.
“It has long been my intent to step away from the business at this stage in my life, in order to devote more time to family and to take on entirely new and unique challenges,” Dotson said in a statement. “That change can only be made possible if a suitable successor is in place. Over the next year, it will be my relentless focus and responsibility to work closely with Philipp to ensure marketplace success and to enable a seamless leadership transition.”
Currently, Humm is responsible for sales and service in Europe, as Deutsche Telekom’s chief regional officer. From 2005 to 2008, he was CEO of T-Mobile Deutschland and is said to have turned around the company during his tenure, making it Germany’s leading carrier in both service revenue and subscribers. During that time, he was also responsible for the launch of the Apple iPhone in Germany.
In the United States, however, the iPhone is for now the exclusive offering of T-Mobile competitor AT&T, and Humm is more likely to continue the company’s focus on devices running Google’s Android operating system. In September 2009, T-Mobile was the first U.S. carrier to offer Android, with the launch of the HTC-made T-Mobile G1.
“It is a privilege for me to take over the reins from an established leader such as Robert,” Humm said in the statement. ” I look forward to working with him and the T-Mobile USA team during the transition phase, and I relish the prospect of leading such a proud company as T-Mobile USA – a force to be reckoned with in one of the largest markets in the world.”
Deutsche Telekom praised the business acumen of both men and again emphasized the smoothness with which it expects the transition to take place and T-Mobile’s plans to continue forward.
On May 24, T-Mobile announced that its HSPA+ network has been extended to additional cities on the East Coast, including areas in New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island. While competitors are busy with plans to roll out LTE and WiMax-based 4G networks, T-Mobile is for now focused on extending its HSPA+ network – which it says offers 4G speeds – to 100 metropolitan areas by the end of the year, covering 185 million people.
According to T-Mobile, more than a dozen of the mobile devices it currently offers are upward-compatible and can take advantage of HSPA+ speeds. In June, that number will grow by two, with the launch of the T-Mobile myTouch 3G slide and the Garminfone. Both run the Android OS.