Humm to replace Dotson at T-Mobile USA

T-Mobile USA Inc. announced that its current CEO and president Robert Dotson will begin to relinquish his positions at the end of June and plans to leave the company all together next May. Current T-Mobile chief regional officer for Europe Philip Humm is set to replace Dotson.
The transition plan calls for Humm to take the president position beginning July 1 as well as the title of CEO designate. Dotson will than transfer his CEO title to Humm in February 2011 at which point he will remain as a non-executive board member until May 2011.
“For 15 years it has been a privilege to lead the talented T-Mobile USA team in its journey to become a leading U.S. wireless provider. The time is right to ensure a thoughtful leadership transition to position T-Mobile USA for the next 15 years of opportunity,” Dotson said in a press release. “It has long been my intent to step away from the business at this stage in my life in order to devote more time to family and to take on entirely new and unique challenges.”
Dotson was tapped as CEO and president of T-Mobile USA in 2003 replacing industry legend John Stanton. Dotson joined the company in 1996 when it was called VoiceStream Wireless Corp. before being named COO in 2001 and gaining the president title in 2002.
Humm served as CEO for T-Mobile Deutschland between 2005 and 2008 before taking his current position. Prior to joining T-Mobile’s parent company Deutsche Telekom AG Humm worked for ten years for a number of U.S.-based companies including McKinsey & Company, Procter & Gamble, and Amazon in senior level positions.
Humm also was involved in the recent establishment of the joint venture in the United Kingdom between T-Mobile UK and Orange UK of France Telekom.
The move comes at a crucial time for the industry’s No. 4 operator as recent quarterly results have shown a decline in its postpaid customer base, while its reliance on prepaid growth has been hampered by increased competition in the mobile space. The carrier has recently moved aggressively to update its 3G network with HSPA+ technology in an attempt to remain competitive in the burgeoning mobile data space.