AT&T has named Michael Wittrock as president of the Southeast Region, where he will oversee the sales and operations for more than 8,900 employees, more than 600 AT&T-owned retail locations, and more than 3,700 national retail partners and authorized resellers.
Before this latest appointment, Wittrock served as senior vice president of (customer) Care for AT&T Entertainment Group, where he was responsible for leading the consolidated Tier 1 and 2 Care functions for video, voice, and Internet services.
Previously Wittrock was senior vice president of Sales & Distribution for DirecTV where he was responsible for leading DirecTV’s national indirect channels of acquisition. In this role, he also had responsibility for two of DirecTV’s emerging business units: Commercial & Multiple Dwelling Units (MDU) and Emerging Market Product development.
AT&T’s President of Sales and Distribution Brian Shay said Wittrock’s experience makes him the “ideal” candidate and a “natural choice” to facilitate the further improvement of the carrier’s customer experience.
Wittrock joined DirecTV in 2005 as Senior Director of Field Operations, responsible for the installation and service network in the eastern half of the United States, including implementation of incentive and quality programs for outsourced providers to align their financial objectives with DirecTV’s objectives.
Globalstar Inc. last week announced it has received approval from the FCC to build a low-power terrestrial broadband service network using its 11.5 MHz of licensed mobile satellite service spectrum between 2483.5 MHz and 2495 MHz. The company lauded the FCC’s action as one that would “make more broadband spectrum available to, and improve wireless broadband service for, consumers in the United States.”
“We thank the Commissioners, their staff and the staff of the Bureaus and Offices who worked tirelessly to bring this proceeding to a successful conclusion,” Globalstar CEO Jay Monroe said in a statement. “We look forward to a busy 2017 as we plan to put our terrestrial authority to use for American consumers and pursue similar authority internationally.”
The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) Public Safety Communications Research Division (PSCR) has announced a $30 million grant funding opportunity to accelerate research, development, production, and testing of key broadband technologies and capabilities for first responders.
Among the specific technology areas included in the grant are mission critical voice, location based services, public safety analytics, communication demand modeling, research and prototyping platforms, and resilient systems, PSCR indicated. According to the funding opportunity announcement, eligible applicants include institutions of higher education, non-profit organizations, for-profit organizations, state and local governments, Indian tribes, hospitals, foreign public entities, and foreign governments. Funds will be awarded in the range of $10,000 to $1 million per year, with project periods of up to two years, the announcement said.
Applications must be submitted to Grants.gov by February 28, 2017. NIST said it expects to complete its review, selection of successful applicants, and award processing by May 2017, with the earliest start date of awards to be June 1.
