Sukrit Maitre, Circle Business Head, Maharashtra and Goa, Uninor

As circle business head, Sukrit Maitre is responsible for overseeing Uninor?s operations in the Maharashtra and Goa circle, defining its growth path and increasing the revenue and customer market share in these circles. Prior to moving to the Maharashtra and Goa circle, he headed the sales and distribution division of Uninor at the national level.

Maitre has over 20 years of work experience. He started his career with BPL, later moving to Samsung and then Videocon. His shift to the telecom sector was marked by stints at Idea Cellular and Tata Indicom. In 2009, he joined Uninor as a part of the pre-launch team in Mumbai and handled sales and distribution for Uninor?s Mumbai operations.

According to Maitre, the internet segment presents a huge opportunity in India. While voice will continue to grow as operators penetrate into rural areas, there will be a sharp growth in data, driven by social networking, other applications and content. ?The percentage of young, educated people with high aspirations is growing. If we can create a platform to provide them with the right kind of connectivity, they will use the internet. It can be the strongest enabler for the change that they wish to see. Mass-market consumers are more interested in cost-efficient solutions rather than technology. They need reliable internet at affordable tariffs. Therefore, this segment is served better using the 2G/EDGE platform,? he says.

During the course of his career, Maitre has been associated with the launch of three brands. Of these, the most memorable for him has been the launch of Uninor. ?Creating a space in the market among incumbents, that too with the limited resources of a 2G prepaid voice operator, and making it a well-known brand was not just an interesting challenge but an experience in itself,? he says.

Maitre considers himself a self-motivated person and a goal-oriented leader. He is of the view that empowering employees and giving them the freedom to make independent decisions is extremely important. According to him, ?It?s fine to make a mistake, what?s more important is to learn from the mistake and evolve, both professionally as well as personally.?