Sorond named NextNav's CEO to pursue location services, 5G

Mariam Sorond, a wireless executive who previously worked at companies including VMware, CableLabs and Dish Network, will take over the CEO role at NextNav, the company announced.

"Having devoted my career to advancing and commercializing innovation in technology, I am thrilled to continue this journey at the helm of NextNav," Sorond said in a release. "I am deeply committed to realizing the full value of NextNav's spectrum asset and next-generation 3D PNT [positioning, navigation and timing] technology to drive growth and deliver long-term shareholder value."

Ganesh Pattabiraman, NextNav's co-founder and current CEO, said he'll step away from the business but will remain an advisor to the company for two years. "I feel confident this is the right time to hand over leadership to such an impressive and experienced executive as Mariam, while continuing to support the company's key strategic initiatives," he said in a release.

Sorond most recently served as CTO of VMware's service provider and edge business unit. She also worked at Dish during its early foray into wireless, prior to the company developing its initial management team to build its nationwide 5G network. Sorond left Dish in 2019 to become CableLabs' chief research and development officer. Sorond has also held positions at Nextel, ICO, PrimeCo and Lucent Technologies.

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Wireless options

Sorond joins NextNav at an interesting time. 

The company in 2021 merged with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) to go public. NextNav owns nationwide spectrum licenses in the 900MHz band. It's currently using that spectrum to build a network that improves the accuracy of GPS signals with indoor and vertical information.

Specifically, the company is providing its nationwide "Pinnacle" location network to 911 operators in the US, providing "floor-level" altitude data in over 90% of the commercial structures that are taller than three stories. That Pinnacle network is now being used by all four nationwide wireless network operators in the US – NextNav named AT&T and Verizon specifically as customers – to help route emergency responders to 911 callers inside buildings.

NextNav is also building a "TerraPoiNT" network designed to improve on GPS signals; that network is currently available in 88 markets.

"TerraPoiNT is well suited for urban and indoor environments where existing GPS signals are either distorted or blocked all together," the company

NextNav officials have touted progress in working to sell the company's precision location data to customers beyond wireless operators, including government entities.

Related:CableLabs Hires Mariam Sorond as Chief R&D Officer

"I'm happy to report that we recently signed a contract to support the federal government in their PNT strategy," Pattabiraman teased during NextNav's most recent quarterly conference call, according to Seeking Alpha. "While we can't speak to the specifics of the contract due to the sensitive nature of our work, we can say that the project will leverage our existing infrastructure to provide persistent PNT characterization initially in select markets around the country. And upon successful completion of this phase, we expect to expand our capabilities nationwide, and this would likely represent our largest contract to date."

Finally, NextNav earlier this year reported that it built a network in Palo Alto, California, to test a "5G waveform on a TerraPoiNT network ... to demonstrate the ability to provide resilient PNT services combined with 5G broadband data."

"We expect that those testing results will validate our ability to provide highly reliable 3D geolocation and resilient PNT capabilities, using the 5G waveform, while simultaneously using the 5G signal for significant data throughput. We expect that testing program to be largely complete by the end of this year, following which we would expect to file for appropriate license waivers with the SEC to provide commercial service using these configurations," explained NextNav's Gary Parsons during the company's most recent quarterly conference call.

It's not clear how exactly the company would sell that 5G offering, but company officials suggested NextNav could lease its spectrum holdings to another company that would actually build a network for 5G operations.