Altice USA beefs up telco team with Charter, Lumen, Rogers alums

Altice USA continues to revamp its executive leadership team, naming three new appointments to the Optimum telecommunications unit – two of which are internal promotions and the other a new hire.

Keith Bowen, who was most recently president of Altice’s News & Advertising division, has added Telecommunications Programming to his purview. He is now responsible for all Optimum programming-related developments, distribution negotiations and agreements covering all content platforms, in addition to continued oversight of news and advertising.

Prior to joining Altice, Bowen spent three years at Charter Communications as chief revenue officer of Spectrum Reach, the operator’s advertising unit.

Luciano Ramos, who came to Altice in March, has been promoted to chief technology and information officer. He will oversee all technology, product development, network operations and information technology for the company, focusing on areas such as technology strategy, engineering and cybersecurity, among others.

Previously, Ramos was Altice’s SVP of product development and technology. Before that, he worked at Rogers Communications, one of Canada’s largest wireless and wireline operators, as SVP of network development, planning and engineering.

Finally, Nate Edwards just joined Altice as EVP of field operations. He is tasked with managing construction, field service, inside and outside plant as well as business operations and compliance for the company’s field organization.

Edwards was formerly at Lumen Technologies, where he spent the last four years as head of enterprise delivery and operations. He also spent over two decades at AT&T, leading areas of operations such as customer care, network strategy and labor relations.

All three appointees will report to Altice Chairman and CEO Dennis Mathew, who took over as chief executive less than a year ago. 

“Keith, Luciano and Nate each bring an exceptional record of success in accelerating business transformation at the highest levels, and I’m thrilled to announce their new roles,” Mathew said in a statement, adding the executives have the “expertise and mindset to drive our business forward.”

Altice’s latest personnel updates come less than week after the company announced it created new regional leadership positions, with veterans from Comcast and Cox at the helm. Mathew also announced a couple of weeks ago Pragash Pillai - who served as CTO since March 2022 - is leaving Altice.

"My heartfelt congratulations to Pragash Pillai as he pursues the next chapter of his career - thank you for your partnership and I wish you the very best as you make your transition," Mathew wrote in a LinkedIn post in August.

This story has been updated to note Altice's current CTO Pragash Pillai is leaving the company.