He joins Joe Euteneuer, former Sprint CFO, who is co-CEO of Rivada, along with four other former Sprint executives, Pierre Elisseeff, Peter Campbell, Bill Esrey and Todd Rowley, whose appointment to subsidiary project Rivada Mercury was announced earlier this week.
Rivada Networks is developing technology called dynamic spectrum arbitrage – tiered priority access, which will allow wireless broadband capacity to be dynamically bought and sold on a wholesale basis in what the company calls “a fully competitive on-demand process” to competing operators. Rivada Mercury – in which Fujitsu, the Harris Corporation, Nokia and Black & Veatch also have stakes – is bidding for a US-wide contract, called FirstNet, to use LTE for emergency services.
Bye has spent the last year at C Spire – formerly Cellular South – provides LTE and other services in and around Mississippi. He has been responsible for technology planning, network development, network and device engineering, wireless and fibre network deployment, construction and field services as well as the day-to-day operations of the wireless and fibre-to-the-home networks, serving consumer and business customers.
Euteneuer said about Bye: “As an innovator, he has demonstrated an ability to deploy new techniques and technologies in service of every task before him. I have had the pleasure of working with him before, and I know his many strengths will add to the already strong team here at Rivada Networks.”
Bye commented: “America’s public safety community needs what Rivada Networks is proposing, and as with all such noble causes, others too will benefit. The innovation that Rivada’s open access wireless market will deliver has the potential to unleash the full power of next generation wireless networks in a way that was previously difficult to imagine. It is a tremendous opportunity, and I am looking forward to getting started.”
Euteneuer added: “A dedicated, resilient, reliable, and self-sustaining network for America’s first responders. Such a challenge requires not just the innovative solutions Rivada already has – it requires proven leaders to fortify our team. In Stephen, I am delighted to have secured just such a leader.”
