Aroooooooon?

By on December 12, 2007 in Operators

I was thinking about this issue the other day.

I can’t name the CEO of any mobile phone company … other than Vodafone’s Arun Sarin.

Is that good or bad?

No, wait, wait a minute. Tell a lie. Kevin Russell of 3UK.

Everybody else? Ghosts. Ghosts in the machine.

Can you?

Obviously if you work for a mobile operator, you’d be expected to know the name of the Chief Exec. But I’m interested to know how many readers (who don’t come into immediate contact with MNOs every day) can name 6 mobile operator CEOs right off the bat without Googling.

I can name 6 top software/hardware CEOs no trouble. But mobile operator CEOs? What’s that say about the industry? Or this blogger?

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Ewan is Founder and Editor of Mobile Industry Review. He writes about a wide variety of industry issues and is usually active on Twitter most days. You can read more about him or reach him with these details.
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  • http://intomobile.com Stefan Constantinescu

    They’re irrelevant for us unlocked and unbranded folks. You shouldn’t have to know such useless data.

  • Barry O’Connell

    Surely it says that, as consumers, we are evaluating mobile services based on their product offerings, service levels and price point. I would think this a good thing.

    The mobile operators spend millions advertising their brands; o2 arena, Orange Wednesdays etc… I imagine the marketing teams are happy enough with that. CEOs are for investors & staff, not consumers (though my complaint to o2s chief last year did yield a nice monthly discount).

    I don’t buy MS software because of Bill Gates or, God forbid, Steve Ballmer. Neither do I buy iPods because of the other Steve; though I suspect some might.

    I wonder if your concern is born out of society’s increasing, but nonetheless irrelevant, belief in the cult of personality?

  • Ewan

    I think you are probably right Barry. Stefan, I like your thinking.

  • Eddy

    Never thaught of this before.
    I live in Montreal and the only MNO CEO name that came first in my mind is Jean-Louis Costanza (tenmobile.fr). Actually a MVNO in France. They were the first to offer unlimited mobile email, MSN IM, and now unlimited surfing. Way long before the 2 big Orange and SFR did. You can even subscribe to unlimited email, IM and web starting from 12€/month. NO 3 year Rogers-Bell-Telus-style CONTRACT!
    By the way I can’t tell a single name of a Rogers, Telus or Bell execs. Sorry. Maybe when one comes up with a decent offer this will change.

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