Verizon Restructures Operations To Emphasize Networking, 5G Efforts

Verizon announced its latest reshuffle that will help the carrier better focus on its core competencies such as network transformation and 5G, the carrier said on Monday.

Effective at the beginning of next year, the carrier's operations will be broken into three customer-facing groups, including Consumer, Business, and Verizon Media Group / Oath, according to a formal statement from Verizon.

The Consumer segment will include the wireless and wireline business consumer segments, including wireless wholesale, and will be led by Verizon Wireless president Ronan Dunne. The carrier's Business Group includes wireless and wireline enterprise, small and medium business, and government business, as well as wireline wholesale and telematics business unit Verizon Connect. Tami Erwin, Verizon's current vice president of wireless operations will head the group. Verizon Media Group/Oath, which includes media, advertising, and technology, and will be under the leadership of Oath's current CEO Guru Gowrappan.

Each new operations group will be served by Verizon's Global Network and Technology organization, which will be led by CTO and chief network operations officer Kyle Malady.

Verizon declined to comment further regarding possible changes to the company's channel organization. However, in a letter to employees Monday, the carrier's CEO Hans Vestberg said that new structure will emphasis Verizon's strategy for the future, which will include; "Inviting our strategic partners to play a larger role in our ecosystem."

[Related: Verizon CEO: Next-Gen Technologies, Oath Media Business Set Up Carrier To Compete]

Among other efforts, Vestberg said that the reorganization will further Verizon's “first to” leadership with 5G and help to set industry standards with its Intelligent Edge Network architecture. Verizon also wants to expand its portfolio of Network-as-a-Service solutions across all customer segments.

In addition to its networking focus, Verizon also wants to grow Oath, the business unit that houses its content assets including AOL and Yahoo, and Connect, its IoT segment, into new industries, Vestberg said in his letter to employees.

"We’re building on our network transformation efforts and the Intelligent Edge architecture to deliver new customer experiences and optimize the growth opportunities we see as leaders in the 5G era," Vestberg said in a statement. "We’re focused on how our technology can benefit customers’ lives and society at large.”

According to Basking Ridge, N.J.-based Verizon, the reshuffle will be effective Jan. 1, 2019. Verizon said it expects to transition to financial reporting under the new structure during second-quarter 2019.

The restructuring announced Monday is the latest in a list of recent reshuffles that Verizon has announced. The carrier's Executive Vice President John Stratton surprised the industry when he announced his retirement in June, and on August 1, former CTO Hans Vestberg took over for Lowell McAdam as Verizon's new CEO. In September, the company offered early-retirement buyouts to thousands of its employees in an effort to save Verizon $10 billion by 2021.

In 2017, Verizon announced that it was restructuring the company to double down on its network and wireless focus by putting its operations into three buckets; Media and Telematics; Customer and Product Operations; and Network and Technology operations.