Broadband Forum Appoints Craig Thomas CEO

The Broadband Forum’s board of directors has selected industry veteran Craig Thomas to be the Forum’s next chief executive officer. Broadband Forum is a communications industry open standards development organization focused on accelerating broadband innovation, standards and ecosystem development.

Thomas will be responsible for leading the Forum at what it calls “a pivotal time for the global broadband industry, reshaping it to transition from connectivity-driven to delivering standards for intelligent, services-led networks that prioritize the user experience.”

Thomas says: “We are entering a new era for broadband where speed is no longer a constraint for subscriber services. Innovations in broadband connectivity allow the industry to capitalize on the potential of broadband beyond residential connectivity services. We can create additional QoE-sensitive monetized lifestyle services for consumers and open up the broadband network to be a ubiquitous one that also meets business, IoT, and converged services demands.”

Thomas continued: “The Broadband Forum and our members remain focused on driving a broadband ecosystem that end-to-end has increased service differentiation, intelligence, and agility from the cloud all the way to the user’s device. Open standards and open software are critical to how operators will build these new, efficient networks.”

Thomas’ term as CEO will start on Jan. 1, 2024, following current Managing Director Ken Ko’s retirement at the end of the year. Thomas has been with the Forum since 2020, serving as vice president of strategic marketing and business development. His extensive experience in the telecoms vendor and service provider industry includes roles at Calix, Tellabs, Tiscali UK Business Services, Cosine Communications, Ericsson, and Alcatel/Newbridge Networks.

“Craig’s selection as CEO was a natural choice for Broadband Forum and we are confident the leadership transition will be smooth,” Broadband Forum Chairman John Blackford says. “During Craig’s time with the Forum, we have seen a ten-year high in membership and contributions from companies large and small, representing innovative vendors, application and content providers, and network and service providers.”

Broadband Forum develops fixed and wireless-wireline converged open standards and open source software that drive multi-vendor interoperability and certification programs for deployable industry-wide standards, architectures, and best practices. Last year, the organization published 39 new standards, test plans, marketing reports, and open software releases. So far in 2023, new areas of work have been identified and the number of documents and new projects continues to grow.