Charter says that Prashanth Myla, its former Vice President of IT Device Activation, has breached his contract with it by not waiting the stipulated one year before working for one of its competitors.
Myla promised, among other things, that for a short, one-year Restricted Period following his separation from Charter, he would not compete with Charter by providing the same or similar services he provided to Charter to any Competitive Business in geographic locations where Charter conducts business.
Charter Communications, January 2025
Myla is a former Vice President of IT Device Activation for Charter who was highly compensated in salary and stock grants and who had wide-ranging access to Charter’s most closely guarded trade secret information regarding the Company’s architecture, delivery, and implementation of operational support systems used for the activation of services across both Charter’s wireline internet provider services and Charter’s mobile services.
Charter Communications, January 2025
Charter is a broadband connectivity company and also owns the MVNO Spectrum Mobile. Charter says that Myla had broad access to its closely guarded trade secrets. He was directly responsible for the nationwide architecture and oversaw the support system Charter used for the activation of services.
During his employment, Myla gained proprietary expertise in various technologies, including the optimization of mobile services with traditional internet provider services and developing solutions to boost smartphone speed while connected to WiFi.
Myla was responsible for and gained proprietary expertise in the following technologies, techniques,and platforms (among others):
• Optimizing the interoperability of the Company’s mobile services with the Company’s traditional internet provider services;
• Building and deploying solutions associated with mobile speed boost to provide higher speeds to mobile phones while connected to WiFi
Charter Communications, January 2025
Myla resigned on October 2 and Charter learned in December 2024 that he had started working for its rival Metronet as its Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer.
What makes Metronet an even bigger threat is that T-Mobile plans to acquire it through a joint venture. Charter is confident that T-Mobile will leverage Myla’s expertise in optimizing the interoperability of wired internet services with mobile offerings.
Metronet has announced a planned joint venture with T-Mobile, a 5G cellular internet provider, which partnership will undoubtably leverage Myla’s expertise in optimizing the interoperability oftraditional internet services with mobile offering.
Charter Communications, January 2025
As Light Reading notes, mobile network operators such as T-Mobile are encroaching on the territory of broadband companies with their FWA (fixed wireless access) offerings and the purchase of fiber companies stands to make matters worse for them.
Cable companies are doing something similar by providing wireless service through deals with the likes of Verizon and T-Mobile.
This is what makes trade secrets related to wireline-wireless convergence all the more important for Charter. It allows the company to provide a unified and differentiated customer experience. The company even offers special incentives to customers who bundle its home broadband connections with Spectrum Mobile wireless service.
T-Mobile has downplayed the importance of converged wireless wireline solutions, but Myla’s employment tells another story.
