FIBER VS. TOWERS: T-Mobile’s new CEO, Srini Gopalan, at right, will replace Mike Sievert. Gopalan’s track record shows a belief in fiber as the ultimate future-proof technology. U.S. tower owners and contractors will closely watch to see if he shifts capital expenditures toward fixed assets, such as fiber, potentially dampening growth in tower leasing or new macro builds.
T-Mobile confirmed that Srini Gopalan will succeed Mike Sievert as CEO, effective November 1, 2025. The leadership change comes amid reports that Sievert, whose contract was set to run longer, was rumored to be resigning earlier than expected. He will move into the role of vice chair, while Gopalan, T-Mobile’s current COO and former member of Deutsche Telekom’s board, takes the helm.
Unlike many wireless executives who ascend from finance or marketing, Gopalan is known as a builder, with a resume centered on large-scale infrastructure rollouts. The key question for U.S. contractors: Will his fiber-first instincts reshape T-Mobile’s capital priorities?
A builder’s track record
As CEO of Telekom Deutschland, Gopalan oversaw one of Europe’s most significant broadband pushes. Under his leadership, Deutsche Telekom committed to passing 2.5 to 3 million new homes with fiber annually, boasting in 2022 that Telekom had “built more fiber this year than all other competitors combined.”
He also spearheaded GlasfaserPlus, a $1.1 billion joint venture with IFM Investors designed to bring FTTH to 4 million rural households between 2022 and 2028. The move cemented his reputation as a leader who favors partnership-driven capital models to accelerate builds.
On the wireless side, Gopalan drove Deutsche Telekom’s 5G sprint, expanding coverage to over 94% of the population in just three years and deploying more than 80,000 cell sites. His teams rolled out 5G standalone and prepared the ground for Open RAN deployments, demonstrating that he can scale both fiber and wireless programs.
What it could mean for U.S. contractors
Gopalan’s appointment signals continuity in T-Mobile’s commitment to dense 5G networks, but his background raises questions for tower crews and wireless contractors.
Fiber Bias: Having staked his reputation on fiber expansion, there is a real possibility Gopalan will tilt T-Mobile’s CapEx toward last-mile fiber and enterprise connectivity, potentially constraining budgets for new towers, sector swaps, and site activations.
Co-Investment Models: His use of JVs in Germany suggests he may favor public–private partnerships or investor-backed fiber builds in the U.S. That could be positive for municipalities, but may not directly translate into tower work.
Densification vs. Diversion: While he knows how to densify wireless networks, the priority may shift toward supporting fixed-wireless with more robust fiber backhaul rather than expanding the tower grid.
A cautious outlook
For the nation’s tower industry, the concern isn’t whether Gopalan can build—his record proves he can. The question is what he chooses to build. Suppose he leans on the same fiber-first strategy that defined his tenure in Germany. In that case, U.S. wireless contractors may find themselves facing tighter capital expenditures allocations, with modernization and tower climbs taking a back seat to fiber trenching.
T-Mobile’s network may remain strong, but the balance of investment between glass and steel could shift—leaving tower crews wondering whether the next CEO’s blueprint includes them at the center, or on the margins.
