Kyle Malady is now the acting CTO at Verizon as his predecessor, Hans Vestberg, takes up the reins of the CEO role at the carrier.

Malady is stepping into the interim role as Hans Vestberg takes the CEO spot from Lowell McAdam. Malady, meanwhile, is still listed as Chief Network Officer on the Verizon website. Malady has been a key figure in spending more on Verizon's fiber footprint over the last couple of years. (See Verizon Names Vestberg as New CEO.)

"Fiber is going to be the backbone, basically the nervous system, of the network of the future," Malady said in 2017. This is expected to pay off later in 2018 as the fiber-linked initial 5G fixed wireless access service from Verizon initially launches. (See Verizon CNO: 'Fiber Is Sexy Again'.)

Like Vestberg, Malady is likely to try and balance costs of a fiber and 5G buildout to try and keep capital expenditure spend at the same level. (See Verizon Capex to Stay Flat Despite Commercial 5G Launch in 2018.)

— Dan Jones, Mobile Editor, Light Reading