CTIA Day One: The Kickoff Keynote
The keynote for this year’s CTIA Enterprise and Applications Conference featured CEOs from the top three wireless companies: Dan Hesse of Sprint, Ralph de la Vega of AT&T, and Dan Mead of Verizon.
Despite some light ribbing, the tone was one of collaboration, with all three CEOs rightly noting that much of the industry’s impressive growth was due to working with each other and with the various innovators up and down the industry chain.
Taking the stage first, Sprint’s Dan Hesse focused heavily on sustainability, running down an extensive list of efforts his company was currently doing to be more environmentally and socially responsible (Sprint’s efforts in helping to curb distraction while driving were impressive, and gave Hesse a set-up for a funny story about his own efforts to keep his teenage son safe behind the wheel).
Next up was AT&T’s Ralph de la Vega, whose main message was innovation — both within the company and by encouraging it throughout the industry. Highlighting the company’s Foundry program, an $80 million commitment to encourage developers of mobile applications, de la Vega was genuinely excited to announce the initiative already had over 100 projects in development.
Closing out the keynote, Verizon’s Dan Mead told the audience, “Even though the wireless industry is fiercely competitive, it’s a success due to mutual cooperation.” He then touched on government regulation, pointing at an ongoing light touch from regulators as critical to maintaining the industry’s impressive growth and, striking the cooperation chord again, said that the industry must work with the government to keep wireless moving, stating, “We have a responsibility to make sure we operate with the highest integrity.”


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