Cablefax The Magazine - August 2021 - 17

OPERATIONS LEADERS
18. STRENGTHENING FOUNDATIONS
Hakim Boubazine | President, Telecommunications & COO
Altice USA
Years in Media & Broadband: 9
Education: Ecole Central de Lyon (Engineering):
University of Strasbourg (Master of Theoretical Physics);
Imperial College of London (Post Graduate Degree Program
in Petroleum Engineering and Management)
My personal superpower is: Having a passion for learning
from others and solving for the impossible
As Altice USA's reach expands, Boubazine
is leading major network upgrades
to increase capacity and bandwidth.
He spearheaded the deployment of
Smart WiFi, providing users with a
better in-home WiFi experience and led
enhancements to Altice Mobile's service
like 1GB and 3GB Flexible Data plans
to compliment the service's unlimited
data plan. Boubazine also spearheaded
the launch of several new products and
managed services for small, medium
and enterprise business customers
during the pandemic. Those included
SD-WAN and wireless failover to ensure
that businesses remained connected to
customers, especially as more interactions
and transactions shifted online.
MY PROUDEST PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENT OVER
THE PAST 12 MONTHS IS... being able to help lead Altice
USA through the challenges stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic,
particularly keeping households, businesses, schools and community
organizations connected during a tumultuous time when people relied
on their broadband and mobile services more than ever before.
HOW HAS THE PANDEMIC FOREVER CHANGED
PROGRAMMING? The pandemic sped up the process of the
digitization of programming and content. During the pandemic,
our customer usage of our network increase and streaming trends
skyrocket. As we continue on the road to normalcy, we don't expect
those trends to slow.
WHAT SORT OF BROADBAND WILL THE AVERAGE
U.S. HOUSEHOLD NEED IN FIVE YEARS? If this current
pandemic has taught us anything, it is how vital broadband is in keeping
us connected and re-imagining the way we do business, we work, we
teach and learn. I expect 100% fiber powered broadband, capable of
multi-gig services, to rise as the industry continues to introduce faster,
safer, lower latency and more reliable whole-home connectivity to
support more and more services, the growing household consumption
and demand for quality.
YOUR PANDEMIC THEME SONG? " Come Together, " the
Beatles. ■
19. FINANCIAL WHIZ
Christopher Winfrey | CFO
Charter Communications
Years in Media & Broadband: 23
Education: BS, Accounting; MBA,
University of Florida
Winfrey has been a mainstay at investor
conferences for years, articulately laying
out Charter's vision for Wall Street.
Lately, that messaging has included its
increased focus on wireless, likening
it to the way the operator approached
landline voice several years ago. His
reach continues to expand, with Charter
adding Spectrum Enterprise and Spectrum
Reach to his oversight in 2019.
In 2020, Winfrey helped protect 700,000
customers from disconnection when they had a hard time paying
bills because of COVID-related hardships, forgiving approximately
$86 million in customers' overdue balances.
MY PROUDEST PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENT OVER
THE PAST 12 MONTHS IS... How we as an organization and our
96,000 employees faced the challenges presented during COVID, and
continued to serve and keep customers connected to their work, schools
and families. Our employees understood the importance of the services
we provide to our local communities, and this was probably the proudest
moment in my career for our company, our employees and our industry.
WHAT'S THE FUTURE OF DIRECT-TO-CONSUMER
STREAMING LOOK LIKE? A lot of work for the viewer -
continually having to figure out if their three, four, five or more different
streaming services actually get them the content they want ... and then
if it's a good value once they add it all up. I also think that could be the
opportunity for cable - to once again provide that value as an aggregator
of programming, unifying search and discovery in a common platform. ■
Cablefax: The Magazine
August 2021
cablefaxmag.com
17
Cablefax The Magazine - August 2021

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