Nitin Mehrotra, Chief Operating Officer, Spectra
Nitin Mehrotra is on a mission to make Spectra a world-class innovative technology company. As chief operating officer (COO), he works continuously to build a culture of development, customer-centricity, and continuous improvement at Spectra.
According to Mehrotra, “Until a few years ago, service providers sold different services to businesses and to households. However, with the launch of several over-the-top (OTT) platforms, we are at a juncture where a dedicated internet pipe has become crucial for businesses and homes. Today, all services, be it voice, data or video, have been subsumed by the internet. At Spectra, our target is to be the fastest internet service provider for small and medium enterprises and homes in our geographic markets.”
Mehrotra began his professional journey with Shyam Telecom where he learnt the ropes of the telecom business. Shortly after, he, along with his brother, founded Ubico Networks, which is India’s first and currently the largest neutral-host in-building solutions infrastructure provider to mobile operators. He was responsible for spearheading the size-based innovative value proposition, which has now been adopted across the industry as a standard for in-building neutral-host services.
He believes his biggest strengths are transformational thinking and reinventing, qualities that were honed further when he donned the COO cap. “I was responsible for technology networks and business excellence. It was a very difficult time and I got to learn a lot. The hardships helped me to understand and build the business at a molecular level. We were undergoing a transformation, revamping the way we were building networks, connecting customers and also our product portfolio,” he reminisces. However, keeping pace with the latest technologies to provide the best possible service to the customers is not easy. “While new technologies offer benefits, they also require internal changes, which are a challenge,” he says.
In terms of management style, Mehrotra believes in delegating responsibility and encourages his subordinates to make new mistakes, provided they learn from them. “I am all about experimenting, challenging the status quo and trying new ideas,” he says.
Mehrotra has a B.Sc in finance and a B.A. in economics from Indiana University, Bloomington. Coming from a joint family, he loves to spend time with his family and friends. He also enjoys watching movies and other content on various OTT platforms.
