New Nextlink gets new CEO

First Avenue Networks executive Robert E. Beran is joining XO Communications as CEO of its newly reformed Nextlink broadband wireless unit.

Beran will also serve as senior vice president of XO Holdings, the parent company of both XO Communications and Nextlink. Beran joins Nextlink just two weeks after Fiber Tower announced its merger with First Avenue, where Beran was senior vice president of operations. At Nextlink, Beran will be overseeing similar operations, managing the company’s 28 GHz to 31 GHz licenses. But instead of just providing backhaul service, Nextlink will also be using its spectrum as a last-mile solution.

XO was originally named Nextlink, but during the telecom bust it changed its name and refocused its business on its wireline assets as companies like Teligent, Winstar and Advanced Radio Telecom went belly-up. As the next generation of broadband wireless and WiMAX gear emerges, though, fixed wireless carriers have begun to reappear with much more sophisticated service offerings. XO managed to hold onto its LMDS licenses after it shut down its operations and is consequently well positioned to launch new services.