Verizon has announced that Jennifer Chronis, nine months after taking charge of the company’s federal business, will now oversee the wireless provider’s public sector operations. Chronis will have responsibilities involving Verizon’s efforts within the company’s educational, public safety, and state and local market segments. After serving in the U.S. Army for over 20 years, and working at both Amazon Web Services (AWS) and IBM, Chronis is excited for the new challenge before her. “I think we’re going to have a fantastic year with all of the work that’s being done,” said Chronis.
The opportunity became available after two years of leadership from Andrés Irlando who left the company for new challenges. Chronis is bringing her experience in a variety of telecommunication endeavors including her time as a GM of DoD Business at AWS, and a host of positions including Vice President of DoD Business for IBM to Verizon.
There has been tremendous revenue growth for the public sector of Verizon’s business as of late. Chronis is looking to extend this run and add to its already 11.7% year over year increase seen in Q1 2021 bringing in a total of $1.65 billion. There are plenty of avenues to explore including 5G, cloud solutions, edge computing, managed services, business Internet, fixed wireless applications, end-to-end application uses, and advanced communications. “I think we’re very uniquely positioned now with the advent of 5G and all of the C-band holdings we’ve invested in to really go deeper with our customers across those various components of their mission,” said Chronis.
Chronis is looking at the billions invested into the C-band spectrum as a result of Verizon’s recent winnings as a great place for the opportunity to improve these revenues further. Mobile edge computing (MEC) is also a highly sought-after target for growth. “When you think about the intent of MEC, it’s really to get the compute and the power of (computing) and faster networking closer to the edge where it really matters,” said Chronis. “I believe, in an organization like the DoD, computing at the tactical edge and getting faster capabilities through 5G into the hands of warfighters is going to be really, really important,” she continued.
As for the world of 5G, Chronis spoke about how the public sector is possibly the best positioned for the implementation of 5G considering its track record for testing such solutions. Verizon itself has been involved in testbeds to push innovative 5G solutions. “Within (the) public sector, I think our customers are actually ahead of commercial enterprise in some ways. I think we’re going to see some rapid growth in (the) public sector in terms of adopting 5G,” she said.
When it comes to 5G, Verizon is fighting two, soon-to-be three, major competitors as AT&T, DISH Wireless, and T-Mobile all expand their reach throughout the United States. Still, the company has been connected with some of the fastest speeds in 5G thanks to its mmWave 5G network known as the Ultra-Wideband 5G and in the early stages of 5G is the leader in selling 5G smartphone devices. Now, with the public sector growing impressively, Chronis is looking to continue this run of leadership through her own. “We have a great public sector team now and just continue to ensure that the team has the right skills and experiences to serve our customers in their journey. And then to just be a market leader in everything we do,” she commented.
Source: Fierce Wireless