Craig Cowden, Top Charter Wireless Tech Exec, Sets Exit Plan

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Cowden, who has been instrumental in the engineering designs of Spectrum Mobile and Charter's CBRS strategy, will depart at the end of March

Craig Cowden
(Image credit: Federated Wireless)

Craig Cowden, the most high-profile wireless engineering executive amid Charter Communication's emergence into the U.S. wireless business over the last seven years, will exit the company at the end of March, the cable operator confirmed.

LightReading, which first reported the news, quoted Cowden as describing the exit as amicable. He said simply that "it's time to do something different" after developing Spectrum Mobile and its MVNO offload strategy.

Cowden, who operates under the title of senior VP of wireless technology, joined Charter in 2016 when the cable operator closed its purchase of Bright House Networks. He had joined that MSO in 2009 after an eight-year stint with Sprint.

Cowden now sits on the board of Federated Wireless, a company that specializes in CBRS spectrum management and which is partly funded by Charter. A believer in the inevitability of private wireless networks, Cowden has been a key executive leader as Charter has developed use cases for the Citizens Band Radio Service (CBRS) spectrum.

As for Spectrum Mobile, it launched at the end of June 2018 and is now one of the fastest growing entities in the U.S. wireless business, touting 4.7 million lines of service as of the end of Q3 2022. ■

Daniel Frankel
Daniel Frankel

Daniel Frankel is the managing editor of Next TV, an internet publishing vertical focused on the business of video streaming. A Los Angeles-based writer and editor who has covered the media and technology industries for more than two decades, Daniel has worked on staff for publications including E! Online, Electronic Media, Mediaweek, Variety, paidContent and GigaOm. You can start living a healthier life with greater wealth and prosperity by following Daniel on Twitter today!