It looks like Claude Aiken, outgoing president and CEO of WISPA, has a knack for picking winners.
Nextlink Internet just announced that it’s hiring Aiken as chief strategy officer and chief legal officer. It just so happens that Nextlink was named “Operator of the Year” by its WISPA colleagues in the ISP industry last year.
At the time, Aiken called Nextlink a “shining example of the best in our industry.” No doubt, that feeling is mutual.
“We are excited to welcome Claude and strengthen the Nextlink leadership team with the addition of a nationally recognized leader in the connectivity space,” said Bill Baker, founder and CEO of Nextlink, in a statement today. “Claude’s deep experience in the legal, policy, and business aspects of the ever-changing connectivity market will add depth to Nextlink and inform our ongoing efforts to connect communities.”
Baker recently told Fierce that Nextlink expects exponential growth over the next three years, due in part to the frenzy around fiber and government funding opportunities. The company was the top bidder in the FCC’s Connect America Fund (CAF) II auction in 2018 and was the No. 6 bidder in 2020’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) Phase I auction, with winnings of just over $429 million.
Nextlink also won CBRS licenses in Auction 105 in 2020. Bidding as AMG Technology Investment Group, the company invested $28.4 million to win a total of 1,072 Priority Access Licenses (PALs) covering 491 counties in 11 states. AMG was ranked third in the number of licenses won; third in the number of markets covered; and ninth in invested capital.
One of the big draws for Aiken, who turns 40 on July 4, is the fact that his roles at Nextlink are kind of an extension of the work he’s done at the FCC and WISPA. At WISPA, he served as the organization’s first full-time CEO. Before that, he worked at the FCC for nearly 10 years, including as an advisor to Chairman Tom Wheeler and acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn.
Nextlink is a company that’s working at closing the digital divide “really rapidly and really well,” Aiken said, noting the company’s consistently high customer satisfaction scores. “I think it’s the customer-focused mindset and the goal of closing the digital divide and doing so in a way that’s truly community based” that’s attractive about the role, he said.
Nextlink uses 2.4 and 5 GHz unlicensed spectrum and increasingly, it will be looking to the 6 GHz band.
Essentially, it will be using a mix of licensed and unlicensed technologies, similar to a lot of the members of WISPA. Despite its name, WISPA members are not pure-play wireless entities. “We kind of accept all comers,” he told Fierce earlier this year.
“Putting my WISPA hat on, we’ve always advocated for the right tool for the job,” he said. That continues with his work at Nextlink. In some cases, licensed CBRS will be the answer; in other cases, unlicensed 5 GHz or fiber will be the most suitable. “It’s just picking the right tool for the job that’s going to best serve the customer,” he said.
Aiken’s last day at WISPA is April 30, and he’ll be starting on a full-time basis at Nextlink beginning May 2.
That doesn’t leave a lot of time for a spring break, but he’s already made good on one promise: going to Disney World in Florida with his family, which includes three kids, ages 10, 8 and 6. “We had a grand old time,” he said. “Everybody loved the experience.”