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The basics:

• Verizon Consumer Group CEO Sowmyanarayan Sampath details 3-pronged AI strategy
• Company invests $200B in U.S. connectivity and digital infrastructure
• Focus on transforming customer experience through AI and feedback
• Basking Ridge remains a long-term hub for Verizon’s New Jersey operations

As a leading U.S. telecom provider, Verizon is making critical moves to shape the future of connectivity and technology – as well as customer experience. NJBIZ recently visited Verizon’s operational headquarters at its Basking Ridge campus and spoke with Sowmyanarayan Sampath, executive vice president and CEO of Verizon Consumer Group, which serves the largest consumer customer base in the United States — including 115 million wireless and 10 million broadband customers.

Recently recognized as one of the inaugural NJBIZ Executive Excellence honorees, Sampath has led the Verizon Consumer Group since 2023. He previously ran Verizon Business – and has been with the company since 2014, serving in a number of roles during that time on his journey to this current leadership position.

His experience spans consumer, enterprise, security, and critical infrastructure. And he has overseen transformative work on Verizon’s operating model and empowering its customer-facing organization.

“I’ve been at Verizon 11-odd years,” Sampath told NJBIZ. He was born and grew up in India and then attended Boston University for his MBA. “I’ve had seven different roles in Verizon. Every role has been different. I’ve been quite lucky to work in every part of the business. I ran a B2B/government business. Prior to that, I was operating officer for our media business.”

In those roles, he got experience in all facets of the business. “Then some network work. I was in product and engineering. Then I did some strategy and transformation roles along the way. So, I’ve been quite lucky there.”

And it is certainly an exciting time at Verizon, especially given the rapid technological developments pertaining to AI and beyond. “At Verizon, we are building the digital infrastructure for the country,” said Sampath. “We are the largest telco in the world – and we only operate in one country, mostly.

$200 billion investment

“The vast majority, we operate in America. We’ve invested $200 billion in America in the last six years. And, of course, the operational headquarters is New Jersey for us – thousands of people here. And we just want to do three things: broadband, mobility, and enable the cloud. That’s it. We don’t want to do anything else.

“And that’s the magic of Verizon.”

He says right now the company is building fiber and wireless networks to get ready for AI – and downstream.

“That’s a corporate mission,” Sampath explained. “And we love Jersey. We love the location, the talent. It’s close to New York, yet not too close.”

Sampath said that Verizon is looking at AI in three ways. First, applied AI, in terms of how the company can use AI in its business in areas, such as efficiency, customer experience, and helping employees (in call centers, in the field, with marketing, etc.).

“Second is, how do we enable other companies using AI?” said Sampath. “For example, one of the most important things in AI is, you need connectivity. So, we provide what’s called AI Connect, which is we connect data centers. We build fiber between data centers.

“And the third is, how do we embed AI in our products to deliver a better product to the customer? Three big use cases – applied AI for our operations, enable AI ecosystem, and enable AI in our products. So, three lenses – we are all-in on all three.”

[O]ne of the most important things in AI is, you need connectivity. So, we provide what’s called AI Connect, which is we connect data centers. We build fiber between data centers.
– Sowmyanarayan Sampath, EVP and CEO of Verizon Consumer Group

He said Verizon is furthest along with the applied AI piece. “We want to transform how the company runs, driven by AI,” said Sampath. “And we’re doing quite well in that. I also think we are very early in the journey.”

Transforming customer service

From there, the discussion shifted to an ambitious initiative rolled out by Verizon and overseen by Sampath to transform its customer service experience through the integration of advanced AI technology – expanding live support options, and more. To stress his commitment to hearing customer feedback, Sampath even included his personal Verizon email address in a full-page advertisement that was published in major newspapers during the rollout.

Sampath said that he has received thousands of emails. “We want feedback from our customers,” he explained. “One of the good things about Verizon is, people trust us. They like us. But sometimes we are too corporate.

“We want to be more human. We also want to get feedback directly from customers,” Sampath said. “What works? What doesn’t? Customers aren’t shy. And the phone is probably the most used product in someone’s life today. For example, if I tell you what’s the one thing you cannot live without today – other than food – it’s going to be the phone.

“So, people are emotional about it. They give us feedback. But we’re also deploying a lot of things to the experience to make it much better.”

The company has received some useful feedback. “For example, when we send phones, sometimes they get lost in transit via the carrier,” Sampath said. “We may know it got lost in transit. But we had expected customers to call us and put in a ticket. Why? We know they lost it. Now, proactive tools tell us – there’s something not right and fix it before a customer needs to call.

“So, we’ve taken a shift that’s proactively looking for gaps in our process and systems.”

He said AI is helpful in these efforts, pointing to tracking areas such as call drops, Wi-Fi not working for a customer, packages not arriving, and more.

“Those are some of the things that we are tracking,” said Sampath.

Next-gen wireless networking

So how does Verizon approach the customer experience? “Longer term, if you look at our category – people will come to us only for three things,” Sampath explained. “We have a better network. The second is, we give you the most value, which is our rate plans, other benefits that we give. And the third is, the experience is great. So, we have to make progress on all three.

“That’s what makes us a better company. And we’ve made a lot of progress on the first two. On the third, we have opportunity. I don’t think we’ve made enough progress on it, which is why I’m spending a lot of my time catching up on customer experience.”

Another area of focus is the next generation of wireless networking. “6G, we are quite early in the space. But let me frame it,” said Sampath. “6G will bring in new bands of spectrum into play. That’s one. Two, it will drive more speeds. Three, it will continue to reduce latency. Four, it will drive spectral efficiency. Spectral efficiency is code for – I can use a spade amount of spectrum to drive more things.”

He noted that the recently enacted federal tax and spending bill, which calls for the identification and auction of at least 600 MHz of spectrum, “It’ll take between four and 10 years, which is typical,” Sampath explained. “And it will make us more competitive as a country. America needs to have the world’s first 6G network. It’s a national security piece. We want in on the standards. And we can’t let China take the lead on 6G from us.

“So, there’s a national pride piece. There’s a national security piece. And then, there’s what’s good for customers. All three will drive 6G – but it’s very early in the cycle. My sense is, the end of the decade is when we’ll start seeing some early movement. But we are still five, six years away.”

5K Basking Ridge employees

From there, the conversation turned to the workforce in New Jersey. Sampath noted that about 5,000 employees work out of the Basking Ridge hub.

“People like Jersey. They like the schools. They come here for the schools. They come here with families,” said Sampath. “But what we are finding is – some of our younger Gen Z population are not very excited about Jersey. We’ve got more work to do there. Taxes are too high. Cost of living is too high.”

That reality poses challenges, but he said that New Jersey attracts good quality technical talent.

“People also want to stay long-term. One of the good things about Jersey – you get multigenerational families here. So, that’s very helpful for us,” said Sampath. “Because there’s not many telcos in America. There’s probably three or four telcos, so there’s not much mobility between carriers.

“You come in; you learn; work your way up; you stay long-term. We like that. Two, we’re always looking for more talent in digital, looking for more talent in customer experience. We’re looking for more talent in AI. And then … marketing product – classic, good old product, value prop marketing.

“Those four tend to be really high demand topics for us. And we think Jersey is a good location to come.”

‘Committed to Jersey longer term’

Sampath noted Verizon’s large presence in Jersey.

“We are committed to Jersey longer term,” he said, citing Verizon Chairman and CEO Hans Vestberg position on Gov. Phil Murphy’s CEO Council. “So, we have a very close relationship with the administration. We like what they do. But we need to make Jersey more competitive – more competitive in startups, more competitive in taxes, more competitive in cost of living.”

Given the variety of announcements and focus on the innovation economy and attracting more startups from the Murphy administration, are those efforts having any effect?

“It has been felt. We can see it – they’re attracting more,” said Sampath. “The thing about startups is you need one or two real big ones. It’s like the music industry. Everyone can write songs – but you need Taylor Swift to write one song, and it becomes No. 1. Startups are like that.

“We need to attract bigger, larger startups here.”

The thing about startups is [New Jersey needs] one or two real big ones. It’s like the music industry. Everyone can write songs – but you need Taylor Swift to write one song, and it becomes No. 1. Startups are like that.
– Sowmyanarayan Sampath, EVP and CEO of Verizon Consumer Group

Sampath also discussed other areas he is exploring.

“Fiber is another one. Jersey is in a good place with fiber,” said Sampath. “Copper retirement is another super important one for us. We retire copper – build more fiber. Deepen our 5G networks, that’s another one. And then build applications that use the capabilities of the network.

“It’s always a chicken-and-egg, the applications or the network. I think we’ve got the network. We’ve got the device. The applications are probably little behind on it. And we are hoping to spur the ecosystem to do that.”

Digital wellness

Sampath then stressed his focus on digital wellness.

“This one, as a parent, it’s quite personal to me,” Sampath explained. “We want our customers to have a healthy relationship with technology, which means sometimes you’ve got to put your phone down.”

He said in his own house there are boundaries for his children.

“We have a free app called the Verizon Family app, which is one of the world’s best apps for this,” said Sampath, who pointed to school districts that have cracked down on phone use. “And I want people to use it. It’s free. I don’t want to make money off it. I want people to have healthy conversations with their kids, their teens. On a given day, those conversations are tough.

“Now, adding technology to it is even tougher. I know it, I have two of them. So, put your phone down. There are boundaries. But have the tools to have the conversation.”

While he does support these boundaries, Sampath believes, in general, the phone is a source of good for kids.

“They learn more. They learn better. They stay connected with each other,” he said. “It takes care of loneliness. So, it’s just about finding the right balance and the right level. And we are extremely supportive of giving customers tools to do that at their own pace. Every family has its own threshold. Every family has its own way of managing it. Our job is to give tools and give guidelines – and then the families take care of it.”

Sampath spoke about the importance of giving back to the community – pointing to one of the most robust volunteer programs in the country, with a focus on schools, emergency preparedness, digital wellness, and fraud prevention.

‘A culture of doers’

As for the company culture?

“Verizon is a culture of doers,” said Sampath. “There’s glory in doing. That’s how we think about it. There’s a bias to action. There’s glory in doing. There’s glory in executing very well. That’s how we want to be. We want to be known as the guys who build. We are builders.

“We are not talkers. We don’t have loud opinions on things. We’re not the most nuanced thought leaders and things. We are doers and builders. That’s the core culture that we have.”

He stressed that Verizon also takes a long-term view of things.

“We’ve been in business, in some form, for the last 100 years. We’re going to be around for the next 100 years,” said Sampath. “So, don’t do anything that will jeopardize that longevity that we have. We know how to take short-term pain.”

Verizon is also able to go big.

“Very few companies in America can make bets our size,” said Sampath, pointing to $200 billion in investments over the last six-plus years. “If they come and say we need to invest another $200 billion the next six years – our chairman is not going to blink an eye. He’s going to go and do it. That’s a little bit about how we think about our role.”

NJ consolidation

He also talked about the company’s commitment to Basking Ridge.

“What we’ve done is we’ve consolidated a lot of our Jersey buildings into Basking Ridge. We had a presence in a few other towns – nearby Morristown, Piscataway, Parsippany, South Plainfield,” said Sampath. “Over the last couple of years, we consolidated most of our operations into Basking Ridge. We’ve had to actually add a garage because we didn’t have enough parking spaces.

“Jersey is an important market for us. And we have large teams here. We are committed to this. We have a 25-year lease on this building. So, we are in it for a while.”

Jersey is an important market for us. And we have large teams here. We are committed to this. We have a 25-year lease on this building. So, we are in it for a while.
– Sowmyanarayan Sampath, EVP and CEO of Verizon Consumer Group

And he said he is optimistic.

“Verizon is an interesting company. The best days of Verizon are in front of us,” said Sampath, who believes that every year the networks become more important to people than the year before. “That’s the business we are – connecting people, connecting things. We are in a unique industry where we have more upside, more goodness in front of us than we had.

“We’ve had an extremely strong run as Verizon for 25 years. I see the demand for our products going through the roof every single day. And we will always live on operating the best networks on Earth. That’s the foundation.”