- From Bell Atlantic call center intern to Verizon EVP, Joe Russo's career spanned the internet boom and bust, telecom deregulation and the evolution from copper networks to 5G
- Russo told Fierce that 5G was not a mistake but a long-term technology cycle whose biggest benefits are still emerging
- Looking ahead, Russo sees AI, edge and low-latency connectivity reshaping telecom economics
When Verizon EVP and President of Network and Technology, Joe Russo first got a taste of working in telecom as part of a summer internship at Bell Atlantic, he had no inkling that it would lead to a 30-plus-year career at one of the world’s largest operators.
Russo’s internship was for a customer repair call center in the basement of a run-down office building in Richmond, Va. He got the job because he knew how to use a computer and Lotus 1-2-3, and subsequently spent the summer building spreadsheets.
When it came time to graduate from James Madison University in 1995 with a major in business administration, Bell Atlantic asked him to come back, but the thought of going back to a repair call center for a telco was not as appealing as working for a company in the internet space.
This was 1995 — and the internet and the World Wide Web were the places to be. Think Netscape! Microsoft! The Browser Wars! A telco call center in a basement working on spreadsheets? Not so much, Russo told Fierce Network.
Bell Atlantic, however, persisted and asked him to come in for an interview. When he explained what type of job he was looking for (i.e. not a job in a call center in a basement), they convinced him to take a job as a Network Operations Center supervisor.
What technology changes did Russo witness at Verizon?
At Bell Atlantic, Russo worked on technology transformation, such as the shift from copper to digital systems. He also witnessed the development of electronic switching systems (ESS), SONET (synchronous optical network); early data and broadband networking; frame relay and ATM (asynchronous transfer mode); packet-switching; SDN and early DSL, and more.
His career also saw many changes at the company and in regulation, including the Telecom Act of 1996; Bell Atlantic’s merger with GTE in 2000, which led to the Verizon name change; and Verizon’s acquisition of MCI Communications which owned UUNET.
Technological breadcrumbs left behind from those changes still exist at Verizon today, he said. “From the MCI acquisition, we have three autonomous systems that are the backbone of the internet. At the former UUNET headquarters, our team still runs that network,” Russo told Fierce.
If the network is ‘invisible,’ it’s working
When Fierce spoke to Russo, he was about to present to 100 summer interns about the evolution of the wireline and wireless network (from 3G to 4G to 5G) and the innovations they spawned — Uber, GPS tracking, AI assistance — and how this “invisible platform makes it all work,” he said.
“We expect it to work, and I want it to be invisible,” Russo said, adding if it’s invisible, it’s working.
He planned to tell the interns that this invisibility may make it seem like a career at a telco is not as cool as a hyperscaler or tech startup, but it’s quite the opposite from his own experience because without the network, most of what those 100 interns do today (using their mobile phones) wouldn’t be possible.
Here’s why: Verizon ranks as the largest wireless carrier in the U.S. by subscriber count, with roughly 146.8 million subscribers. Physically, its 4G LTE network covers roughly 70% of U.S. landmass and over 99% of the population, giving it the broadest physical geographic 4G coverage footprint among major U.S. operators. Globally, it ranks as the second largest carrier in the world by revenue behind AT&T.
Russo said don’t knock 5G
Of all the transformations he’s seen, he said 5G is the biggest and still brings the biggest opportunity for operators, he said, admitting he disagreed with folks that think 5G was a mistake.
The mistake for 5G was thinking that innovation around it would happen fast, he said. “5G is an evolution. It’s not a big bang. We will still be seeing the benefits of 5G years from now.”
To be sure, 5G was a “big investment cycle” and not as easily monetized as 4G, which enabled the smartphone boom, said Russo. As a result, the industry is approaching the next evolution of the wireless network, 6G, with caution and asking important questions such as, “What is 6G trying to solve? What are the use cases? How can we monetize it?”
What’s ahead for the industry?
Aside from 6G, Russo said one of the biggest problems telecom operators have to address is what “currency” they will deal with in the future.
Previously, telcos billed for things like renting actual telephones, voice services, long-distance calls and data usage.
In the future, the currency could look more like uplink, AI tokens and edge compute, he said. “It’s going to become more and more important to connect data center networks and program the edge of the network,” he said. “Low-latency networks will take priority as the network edge evolves.”
As for satellite, Russo sees it as complementary and part of the future communications ecosystem alongside the likes of hyperscalers. But all of this is for the next generation to deal with.
Regardless of who’s in charge of the tech stack, one key tenant of Verizon’s business will remain the same, he said. “We will continue to work to create an open dialog with our customers because that’s the way to create trust and value.”
Russo will be passing the torch to Abdu Mudesir, former head of product technology and development at Deutsche Telekom, at the end of Q1 2027.
As for the man himself, Russo admits he’s looking forward to retirement and spending time with this family and on his boat — and probably not worrying about 6G monetization.