The year 2023 saw a series of changes in the senior management of organisations across the telecom and information and communication technology (ICT) domain, with various appointments, promotions and exits at the top level. Among government entities, Neeraj Mittal took charge as secretary of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) following the appointment of former DoT secretary K. Rajaraman as chairman of the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA). Further, S. Krishnan, was appointed secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), following the superannuation of Alkesh Kumar Sharma. Apart from these, major appointments were witnessed in the telco, telecom infrastructure, data centre operator, satellite and handset segments.
tele.net tracks the key people movements across government organisations, telecom operators, infrastructure providers, handset players, network, equipment and technology vendors, and industry associations in the telecom space during 2023…
Government
The most notable development was the appointment of Neeraj Mittal as secretary, DoT. Prior to this, Mittal was principal secretary of the Information Technology Department, Government of Tamil Nadu. Previously, he served as managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) of Guidance Tamil Nadu. Mittal took over from K. Rajaraman, who was appointed chairman of IFSCA for a period of three years.
Further, S. Krishnan was appointed secretary, MeitY, following the superannuation of Alkesh Kumar Sharma on August 31, 2023. Krishnan is a 1989 batch IAS officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre. Meanwhile, V.L. Kantha Rao, additional secretary, DoT, was appointed secretary, Ministry of Mines, and Abhay Karandikar, director, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur was appointed secretary at the Department of Science and Technology.
In another key move, Gunjan Dave was appointed member, technology, at the Digital Communication Commission (DCC), following the superannuation of Sanjeev Agarwal. Prior to this, Dave was deputy director general (DDG) of Gujarat’s licensed service areas. In the past, she has served as principal general manager at Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL).
Rajesh Rai was appointed chairman and managing director (CMD), ITI Limited for a period of five years. Prior to this, Rai served as general manager of MTNL, Mumbai. He also served as chief technology officer (CTO) of Mahanagar Telephone Mauritius Limited in Mauritius for 12 years.
Meanwhile, Manoj Tandon was appointed director of projects, operations and maintenance, and Yashpal Singh Tomar assumed charge as director, network planning and marketing at RailTel Corporation of India Limited. Further, Lt General M.U. Nair was appointed the national cyber security coordinator. He succeeds Lt General Rajesh Pant, a veteran of the Corps of Signals of the Indian Army. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet also approved a two-year extension in the tenure of Dr Rajkumar Upadhyay, CEO, Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT).
In terms of retirements, Rajesh Kumar Pathak retired as DDG (international cooperation), DoT. Other senior officials who retired upon reaching the age of superannuation include Pramod Kumar Singh, special director general of telecommunications, Andhra Pradesh licensed service area; Vinod C.V., chief general manager, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), Tamil Nadu circle; Rajendra Kumar Yadav, chief general manager, BSNL Chhattisgarh Garhwal circle; Chinmay Lal Singh, DDG, Uttar Pradesh West; and Gunjan Prasad, general manager (operation), MTNL, Delhi.
Telecom Operators
Bharti Airtel
Bharti Airtel promoted Shashwat Sharma to the position of chief operating officer (COO). He succeeded Sunil Taldar, who was appointed director, transformation, Airtel Africa. Prior to this, Sharma held the positions of Airtel’s head of marketing and consumer business, and CEO, Airtel direct-to-home (DTH), the telco’s linear TV distribution business. Meanwhile, Amit Tripathi was appointed director, marketing and customer experience. He will be responsible for Sharma’s entire portfolio except the DTH business, which has been assigned to Siddharth Sharma.
Airtel also announced the restructuring of its enterprise division, categorising Airtel Business into three segments – Global Business led by Vani Venkatesh, Domestic Business led by Ganesh Lakshminarayanan, and Nxtra Data Centers led by Ashish Arora. Meanwhile, Naval Seth was appointed head of investor relations. In this role, Seth will represent Airtel among investors, lenders, equity partners and financial institutions.
On the resignations front, Adarsh Nair, chief product officer, Bharti Airtel resigned from the company after a five-year tenure. According to a regulatory filing, Nair will be relieved from his duties on February 15, 2024. Further, Ajay Chitkara, CEO of Airtel Business resigned and joined Ecom Express as MD and CEO.
Vodafone Idea Limited
Vodafone Idea Limited (Vi) also witnessed a series of appointments, with the most notable one being Kumar Mangalam Birla rejoining the board of Vi as additional non-executive director. Vi’s board of directors approved his appointment, effective April 20, 2023. The board also accepted the resignation of non-executive director K.K. Maheshwari from the board. Birla had stepped down from the position of non-executive chairman in August 2021.
Further, Sujeet Sharma was appointed vice-president (VP), active network and commercial. Prior to his appointment, Sharma worked for 15 years with Bharti Airtel, where he last held the position of VP and head of infrastructure procurement and operations. Moreover, Vi appointed Murthy G.V.A.S., executive VP, financial controller and taxation head, as interim chief financial officer (CFO) with effect from February 15, 2023.
Meanwhile, Aruna Pidikiti was appointed EVP, Hub CTO, technology. Prior to this, she worked with Bharti Airtel for 23 years.
MTNL
At MTNL, the board approved the appointment of Sultan Ahmed as CFO. Ahmed’s previous roles included positions at MTNL Mumbai and Delhi. He also served as CFO of United Telecom Limited Nepal.
Telecom Infrastructure
Among towercos, Indus Towers Limited announced the appointment of Neeti Wahi as chief digital and information technology officer, effective December 2023. Wahi previously served as chief information officer at Sterlite Power and member of the executive committee for the Sterlite Power Group. Further, Ramesh Abhishek was appointed non-executive independent director on the board. Abhishek, a retired civil servant, had served as secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade until 2019.
Meanwhile, STL appointed Sanjay Sahni as head of sales for the India region. In the past, Sahni has held various leadership positions at Kyndryl, IBM, Tellabs and Wipro.
Network, Equipment and Technology Vendors
Key movements were also witnessed in the network, equipment and technology vendor domains. Ciena Corporation appointed Amit Malik as VP and sales leader for India. Malik joined Ciena from Cisco Systems, where he held various leadership roles, with his most recent position being managing director, Strategic Sales, Global Service Provider Segment, Asia Pacific & Japan. Further, Ciena promoted Sheela Kosaraju as senior VP, general counsel and assistant secretary, effective January 30, 2023.
Meanwhile, Anand Athreya was appointed MD and CEO of Tejas Networks, effective April 3, 2023, replacing Sanjay Nayak, who opted for voluntary retirement to pursue other personal interests. Prior to joining Tejas Networks, Athreya served as executive VP and chief development officer at Juniper Networks, since 2017, and as senior VP of the routing business unit for three years. In addition, the company approved the appointment of Alice G. Vaidyan as non-executive, independent (additional) director, not liable to retire by rotation, for a period of five years with effect from March 29, 2023, until March 28, 2028.
Technology Solutions and Service Providers
Among technology companies, Meta appointed Vikas Purohit as director of its global business group in India. Purohit brings over 20 years of experience in senior business, sales and marketing roles at companies such as Tata CLiQ, Amazon, Reliance Brands, Aditya Birla Group and Tommy Hilfiger.
Further, Microsoft appointed Puneet Chandok as corporate VP for India and South. Chandok previously led Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) India and South Asia business. He has also worked as partner at McKinsey in India and Asia, and held senior regional and global roles at IBM.
Moreover, Orange Business Services strengthened its executive management team with the appointment of two executives. Usman Javaid, Ph.D, was appointed chief products and marketing officer, effective April 24, 2023. Javaid previously served as managing director of professional services delivery at AWS. He brings over 20 years of experience focused on building innovative technology products and driving large-scale business transformation. He will be based in the UK. The second appointment was that of Hriday Ravindranath as chief technology and information officer, effective May 15, 2023. Previously chief product and digital officer at BT Global, Ravindranath will be based in India.
Qualcomm appointed Savi Soin as head, India operations. The move comes after Rajen Vagadia stepped down as president, Qualcomm India and SAARC, to take on a global role in the company. Soin started working at Qualcomm in 1999 as a financial manager and has subsequently held various positions in the company. Meanwhile, Vagadia had held local and regional executive-level positions in business development and outsourcing at Motorola, Tata Teleservices Limited, Elcoteq and Reliance Infocomm Limited prior to joining Qualcomm.
The other key appointments were Kaspersky appointing Jaydeep Singh as general manager for India; Spirent Communications appointing Rajesh Pathak as managing director for India and SAARC; and RingCentral, Inc. appointing Sathesh Murthy as MD, India, and head of engineering.
Data Centre Operators
In the data centre domain, Web Werks Data Centres appointed Amit Agrawal as chief business officer (CBO). In his new role, Agrawal is responsible for business strategy, partnerships, marketing, monetisation, growth and India expansion at Web Werks. He joined Web Werks from Yotta Infrastructure, where he was head of sales, channels and business development. Prior to that, he was associated with Cisco Systems, Dell, Xansa, Tatanet and Reliance Communications (Data Centre).
Yotta Data Services strengthened its leadership team with the appointment of Tarun Kripalani as media and entertainment evangelist and Siji Sunny as chief cloud architect. Further, BDx Data Centers appointed Manish Prakash as president and CBO while CtrlS Datacenters Limited announced the appointment of Mohit Pande as CFO.
Meanwhile, DE-CIX India appointed Sudhir Kunder as CBO, effective August 7, 2023. In his new capacity, Kunder will leverage his extensive experience to spearhead DE-CIX India’s strategic pursuits and cultivate pivotal collaborations.
Satellite Players
Hughes Communication India Private Limited (HCIPL) announced the retirement of Partho Banerjee, president and MD on July 17, 2023. He was succeeded by Shivaji Chatterjee. Meanwhile, Inmarsat announced that Rajeev Suri will step down as CEO, Inmarsat, upon completion of the company’s acquisition by Viasat. Suri has been nominated by the shareholder consortium that acquired Inmarsat in 2019 to serve as board director of Viasat following the sale. Andrew Sukawaty, chairman, Inmarsat, will also step down from his position upon completion of the acquisition and join Viasat’s board of directors.
Handset and Smart Device Players
In the handset domain, Lava International appointed Rishi Mohan Bhatnagar as president. Prior to this, he was president of Aeris Communications and led its business in India, Middle East and Africa and Asia Pacific. Further, the company promoted Sunil Raina to the position of interim MD with immediate effect. In the past, Raina has worked with companies such as Tata Teleservices, Airtel, Reliance Communications and Uninor. Further, Realme appointed Sudhanshu Raj as COO, India operations, with immediate effect. He previously held the position of head of strategy development and operations at ESWOP Technology Private Limited. Meanwhile, Oppo appointed Alfa Wang as president, India operations, effective March 1, 2023, and Samsung India appointed Shirish Agarwal as director of marketing.
In terms of resignations, Manu Kumar Jain, global VP and former India head, Xiaomi Group, resigned from the company. He had been associated with the Xiaomi Group for nine years, of which he spent seven years with Xiaomi India. Further, Sumit Sonal, general manager, marketing, at Xiaomi India, stepped down from his position. Sonal joined Xiaomi India in 2017. Another notable development remained the resignation of Madhav Sheth, Realme India. Navnit Nakra, CEO of OnePlus India, also resigned from the company after a three-year tenure. He joined OnePlus India as VP and chief strategy officer, and was later promoted to the position of CEO, overseeing the company’s sales operations in India.
Industry Associations
Among industry associations, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) announced that Pramod K. Mittal, president, Reliance Jio, will continue to serve as chairperson, and P. Balaji, chief regulatory and corporate affairs officer, Vi, as vice-chairperson of the association. Mittal brings over 40 years of experience in the telecommunications sector, and had previously served at DoT for over 37 years. Meanwhile, P. Balaji is member of the core leadership team of Vi. He is a pioneer in the telecom sector, having joined the industry in 1993. Prior to joining Vi, Balaji served as MD, Nokia India and Sony Mobile, and also held senior leadership positions in the Tata Group, AT&T, Ericsson and Lucent Technologies.
The Digital Infrastructure Providers Association (DIPA) appointed Dhananjay Joshi, MD and CEO, Summit Digitel, as chairman; and Sandeep Girotra, CEO, American Tower Corporation (ATC) India, as vice-chairman, with effect from October 1, 2023. Joshi took over from Akhil Gupta, chairman, Bharti Enterprises Limited, who had served as chairman, DIPA, since 2011. Meanwhile, Girotra replaced Amit Sharma, former executive VP at ATC. During DIPA’s annual general meeting, Gupta accepted the position of patron member, DIPA, at the request of executive committee members, while Sharma agreed to be DIPA’s special invitee for all executive committee meetings.
Further, the Broadband India Forum appointed Aruna Sundararajan IAS (Retired), former secretary (telecom), DoT, Ministry of Communications, and chairperson, DCC as chairperson with immediate effect. In her stint as a bureaucrat, Sundararajan had served as secretary, Ministries of Steel, Information Technology and Telecom, Government of India. She retired as chairperson of DCC in 2019. Sundararajan serves on the boards of leading companies including Delhivery, Infoedge and Bharat FIH, India’s National Bank of Infra Financing and Development, Cochin International Airport and a neo-banking start-up Digi Vriddhi.
The International Telecommunication Union appointed Kishore Babu as area representative for Southeast Asia and Timor Leste, Indonesia. Babu is DDG (standards–R&D–innovation) at DoT. He started his career as deputy general manager (enterprise telecom services) at BSNL in October 2004, and has since worked in the Ministry of Communications in various capacities. Further, the Internet and Mobile Association of India elected Harsh Jain, co-founder and CEO of Dream Sports, as chairman of the association. He replaced Sanjay Gupta, VP and country manager, Google India.
Moreover, nasscom appointed Rajesh Nambiar, chairman and MD, Cognizant India, as chairperson. Nambiar, who previously served as vice-chairperson, succeeded Anant Maheshwari, former president, Microsoft India. nasscom also appointed Sindhu Gangadharan, senior VP and MD, SAP Labs India, as its vice-chairperson.
Meanwhile, Akash Tripathi, CEO of MyGov assumed additional charge as CEO of the India Semiconductor Mission, effective October 9, 2023. Tripathi succeeded Amitesh Kumar Sinha, whose tenure ended on October 4, 2023. Additionally, the Finland Chamber of Commerce in India announced the appointment of Sanjay Malik, senior VP and head, India market, Nokia, as its chairperson for the year 2023-24. Malik succeeded Sanjay Aggarwal, president of Fortum India Private Limited, who held the position in the previous fiscal year.
Kuhu Singh Abbhi
