FreedomPop

Sep 23, 2020

Dish hired Stephen Stokols, founder of FreedomPop, as EVP of Boost Mobile. (Dish) It might sound counter-intuitive, but Verizon’s plan to acquire Tracfone from América Móvil is music to the ears of Stephen Stokols. Granted, it’s the biggest carrier buying the biggest MVNO. But Stokols, who just joined Dish Network as executive vice president of Boost Mobile, sees the acquisition as a nice window for jumping into the Dish/Boost fray. Stokols will lead sales, marketing, go-to-market strategy and operations of the Boost business. With Verizon and Tracfone focused for the next nine or so months on closing their up to $6.9 billion transaction, they’re not likely to be taking big risks. Longer term, Verizon doesn’t have a lengthy track record for pushing the envelope in prepaid. Sponsored by Southco Inc. How To Secure 5G Equipment With Electronic Access Learn how to protect small cell enclosures from physical threats and deliver better, stronger and more reliable networks with electronic locks and access control systems. Boost launched in the U.S. about 19 years ago with a bold attitude and an emphasis on the youth market. While some of that DNA remains,  the reality is, “we’re going to try to expand the appeal of Boost,” Stokols said. “It’s got some good brand equity, but ultimately, we’d like to make it much more of a household name” and appeal to a broader audience through competitive pricing and expanded distribution. “I think there’s a huge opportunity to take a page out of the FreedomPop playbook and really build out a very robust and best-in-class digital capability,” especially in the telco space where the big carriers are not very good at digital, Stokols said. Shifting more to a digital format is not a only cheaper and a more efficient way to conduct business, it’s being accelerated in the age of Covid. On the handset side, where the generational changes are not as marked as they used to be, people are more comfortable purchasing new models online without having to do a test run at a physical store. There’s also the opportunity to advance the use of SIM and eSIM technologies without having to hold a lot of device inventory. Stokols is based in Los Angeles and Boost’s original office is, conveniently, located in Irvine, California. The plan is for him to move to the Denver area full-time in 2021. He reports to John Swieringa, Dish group vice president, Retail Wireless and COO. David Kim, Dish SVP of retail wireless sales and operations, reports to Stokols. Kim, who was at Clearwire before Sprint, deserves a lot of credit for building out Boost and its distribution to what it is today, Stokols said. About that name: FreedomPop. What does it mean exactly? Stokols said the name might have been too clever. The “Freedom” part is pretty clear. “Pop” refers to the points of presence term that’s commonly used in the wireless industry referring to covered population. But ultimately, “I ended up explaining it more than I probably should,” he said. Read more on