TIP elects Rob Soni of AT&T as the new chairman

The Telecom Infra Project (TIP) announced that Rob Soni, Vice President of Radio Access Network Technology, AT&T, and current TIP Board member, will succeed Yago Tenorio as Chairman of TIP after his departure from Vodafone.

Rob joined the TIP Board of Directors in 2024. At AT&T, Rob is responsible for all aspects of AT&T’s RAN architecture and infrastructure technical road maps for hardware and software, including baseband units, radios, antennas and all ancillary components. In addition, his team oversees certification and development for RAN hardware, software and features. This team drives AT&T’s RAN, CORE, and service strategy and contributions to global standards and to the technical industry.

TIP would like to extend our gratitude to Yago Tenorio for his leadership over the past nearly five years. Under his guidance, TIP and our community have made significant strides in advancing open and disaggregated network solutions.

The TIP Board of Directors is made up of representatives from leading companies in the telecom industry.

Some other members of the TIP Board of Directors include:

Caroline Chan, Vice President, Network and Edge Group, Intel

Cayetano Carbajo Martin, SVP Core, Transport and Service Platforms, Telefónica

Thomas Lips, Senior Vice President, Group Technology, DT Group Technology

Larry Alder, Director, Connectivity Ecosystems, Meta

Kevin Holley, Industry Standards Director, BT

Laurent Leboucher, Group CTO and Senior Vice President, Orange Innovation Networks

Amith Maharaj, Group CTO, Network Design and Planning, MTN

Supporting Quotes

Yago Tenorio said: “It has been a privilege to serve as chairman of TIP. Together, we have made incredible progress in transforming the telecom landscape through open innovation, and I am excited to see where Rob Soni will lead TIP next.”

Rob Soni, TIP’s new Chairman and Vice President of Radio Access Network Technology at AT&T, said, “I am honored to take on this role and continue the mission of driving openness and collaboration in telecom infrastructure. The next phase will be critical in accelerating deployment and ensuring the benefits of open networks reach every market.”

Caroline Chan, Vice President, Network and Edge Group, Intel, and TIP’s longest-serving Board member, said, “Rob Soni has a deep understanding of our industry’s technological and strategic demands. We are confident that his leadership will take TIP to new heights.”

Kristian Toivo, TIP Executive Director, said, “We are excited to welcome Rob Soni as our new chairman along with Caroline Chan as the new President of TIP. Rob’s expertise and vision will ensure that TIP remains at the forefront of network innovation.”

Biography: Rob Soni, Vice President—Radio Access Network (RAN) Technology, AT&T Services, Inc.

Rob is responsible for all aspects of AT&T’s RAN architecture and infrastructure technical road maps for hardware and software, including baseband units, radios, antennas and all ancillary components. In addition, his team oversees certification and development for RAN hardware, software and features. This team drives AT&T’s RAN, CORE, and service strategy and contributions to global standards and the technical industry.

Prior to joining AT&T, he led RAN architecture at VMware, overseeing their cloud platform infrastructure technology, including product definition and portfolio strategy. Rob also held technical roles with Nokia Bell Labs, Alcatel-Lucent, and Lucent driving architecture, innovation and strategy for their entire wireless portfolio with a more recent particular focus on cloud RAN and 5G.

Through his many key roles on the product side driving cellular infrastructure, Rob has driven large teams and small teams to provide innovative solutions that have reached significant market penetration across 3G, 4G, and 5G networks in several large wireless operators around the world. He has supported and developed technologies that significantly improved performance, increased resiliency, significantly decreased power consumption and reduced total cost of ownership.

Rob holds a doctorate and master’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a Bachelor’s in Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Cincinnati. He currently lives in Columbus, Ohio, with his wife and three children.