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Comcast: Phone Exec Departure Won’t Alter Deployment Plans

Jun 16, 2005  •  Post A Comment

The recent departure of a top phone-service executive at Comcast won’t prevent the company from achieving its goal of reaching 15 million homes passed by the end of the year, a Comcast spokeswoman said Thursday.

Rian Wren, who had been senior VP and general manager of Comcast Voice Services, stepped down last week to pursue other opportunities. Cathy Avgiris, senior VP of finance and administration at Comcast’s online and voice services unit, will assume Mr. Wren’s duties. She reports to David Juliano, president of Comcast Online and Voice Services.

News of Mr. Wren’s departure began to raise questions about whether Comcast’s deployment initiatives are on track. However, people familiar with the matter said that Mr. Wren was part of a broader team charged with deploying the phone service and that nothing changes with his resignation.

Comcast has moved more slowly than Cablevision and Time Warner in deploying its voice over Internet protocol service. However, the company earlier this year stepped up its efforts, announcing plans to roll out the service in several markets as part of its stated goal to bring the service to 15 million homes passed by year-end.

In the first quarter alone Comcast added 7,000 phone customers.