Altice USA named Jean-Charles Nicolas to lead its new mobile unit. Nicolas previously served as the deputy CEO and CFO of Altice’s Dominican Republic operation.
In the newly created role of senior VP of Altice Mobile, Nicolas will oversee the development, launch and ongoing marketing strategy for an Altice mobile service built on the back of an MVNO deal signed with Sprint in November.
Nicolas will be responsible for the end-to-end mobile customer experience, including operations, marketing, sales and customer care. He’ll report to Hakim Boubazine, Altice USA’s co-president and chief operating officer.
“Jean-Charles brings with him more than 20 years of experience in the mobile communications industry, and we are pleased to have him join us in the U.S. as we prepare to launch our mobile service and introduce disruptive and differentiating offers to our residential and business customers,” said Boubazine in a statement.
RELATED: Altice’s Goei says operator ‘ahead of where we thought we’d be’ on Sprint MVNO integration
“Our expansion into the U.S. mobile industry is an exciting evolution for Altice USA, enabling us to deliver best-in-class entertainment and innovative digital services through high-quality, ubiquitous and seamless connectivity,” Boubazine added. "We are making great progress readying our network infrastructure and customer management platforms to support our mobile offering and are glad to have Jean-Charles onboard for this next phase as we bring our wireless product to market.”
Altice plans to launch its mobile service in 2019. The cable company said the agreement enables it to connect its network to the Sprint nationwide network and have full control over Altice Mobile’s features, functionality, and customer experience.
At Altice Dominica, Nicolas managed the daily operations of all company services, including a mobile business that was available across the Dominican Republic. Before joining Altice Group in 2009, he worked for French wireless and MVNO provider Neuf Cegetel.
During Altice USA’s first-quarter earnings call last month, CEO Dexter Goei told investors that his company is ahead of schedule in terms of developing the wireless infrastructure and integration needed to execute on the MVNO agreement.
"In terms of where we are on the Sprint, let's call it densification of their network side—we’re probably ahead of where we thought we would be relative to when we signed the MVNO agreement,” Goei said.