2degrees appoints new Chief Technology Officer

Mike Davies to replace Mike Goss next week

2degrees has appointed a new Chief Technology Officer to replace Mike Goss, who retires at the end of the year.

The new CTO Mike Davies has also worked for Vodafone New Zealand, and was most recently head of services for Alcatel-Lucent (Telecom’s technology partner for the XT Network). Davies will begin his new role on December 10.

In the wake of the high profile XT network outages in 2010, Davies explained to Computerworld the three elements to a robust mobile network when he employed as Vodafone’s general manager for network services.

2degrees CEO Eric Hertz says Davies brings extensive network development, operations and IT experience, and that his appointment “marks a significant changing of the guard for 2degrees.”

“Mike replaces our current CTO - Mike Goss - who is retiring at the end of the year. Mike has been with 2degrees for the past four years and has spearheaded the build of the company’s 2G and 3G networks. He has done an outstanding job and leaves the company, and our network infrastructure, in great shape going forward.”

2degrees has over 750 staff and, “has committed $450 million” to building New Zealand’s third mobile network.