Vestberg to take top spot on August 1

In a big move up top, Verizon Communications said Friday that Hans Vestberg has been tapped to succeed Lowell McAdam as CEO, effective Aug. 1, 2018.

Vestberg, 52, was the CEO of Ericsson before joining Verizon in April 2017, and has been serving as EVP and president of global networks and chief technology officer.

As part of the succession plan, McAdam,64, will serve as executive chairman of the board through his retirement from the company at the end of 2018, and serve as non-executive chairman thereafter, Verizon said.

McAdam was named CEO in August 2011 and chairman on Jan. 1. He is retiring after leading the company through the transition to 4G/LTE, and now as Verizon embarks on the 5G era.

Verizon has locked in plans to launch 5G-based services in Sacramento and Los Angeles and two other markets the company has yet to identify.

“I think it [5G] is the biggest technology breakthrough I’ve seen in my career,” McAdam said last month in an interview with Yahoo Finance.

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More to come…