Frontier hires former Vodafone exec Vishal Dixit as chief strategy officer

Frontier Communications named Vishal Dixit as its new chief strategy officer. Reporting directly to Frontier CEO Nick Jeffery, Dixit will help accelerate Frontier’s fiber strategy. His expertise includes strategic insight and building key industry partnerships.

Dixit worked eight years at Vodafone, initially serving as the company’s head of strategy before spending four years as director of strategy and wholesale. Jeffery also previously came from Vodafone, having served as CEO of Vodafone U.K.

“I’ve seen firsthand the impact of Vishal’s work and know he will add immediate value to our world-class team,” Jeffery said in a statement. “We are eager to tap his expertise leading digital transformations as we build gigabit America.”

Frontier debuted its two-gig fiber service in February. The operator is offering the service across its entire fiber footprint, which currently consists of about four million fiber locations. It is working to expand its footprint to 10 million locations by the end of 2025. 

Frontier also announced earlier this week a discounted broadband deal for customers who qualify under the Federal Communications Commission’s Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). ACP customers can get 100 megabytes of fiber speed at a net zero cost, replacing ACP’s minimum fiber speed of 50 megabytes.

“Fiber optic broadband is the fastest, most reliable and future-proof connectivity technology available today,” Dixit wrote in a LinkedIn post. “I've seen this first-hand as I crafted the U.K.'s leading full fiber partnerships, and I am inspired by the huge potential that a gigabit-connected America will bring to families, businesses and entire economies.”

Vodafone signed agreements last year with wholesale infrastructure company CityFibre and BT’s Openreach as part of Vodafone’s target to deliver fiber service to 8 million homes by April 2022.

Dixit joining Frontier is a continuation of the company’s recent hiring spree. In October, Frontier brought on Melissa Pint as chief digital information officer as well as Charlon McIntosh as chief customer operations officer. The operator also has former Verizon and AT&T executives among its C-suite ranks: executive chairman John Stratton spent 25 years at Verizon, ending his tenure as EVP and president of global operations, while chief network officer Veronica Bloodworth made the leap from AT&T, where she worked for two decades and last served as SVP of construction and engineering.