Rajshekhar Deshraj: Director and Business Head, Sterlite Power
Rajshekhar Deshraj has over three decades of experience in sectors such as power transmission and telecom, where he has been involved in technologies such as 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, internet of things (IoT), fibre-to-the-X and optical ground wire (OPGW).
Currently, as director and business head at Sterlite Power, he is responsible for identifying new business opportunities, overseeing operations, maintenance and service assurance, and developing unique public-private partnership models for the monetisation of the assets deployed by utilities. Under his leadership, the company has been delivering optical fibre networks for intercity and intra-city transmission lines for smart cities, state transmission utilities’ information and communications technology requirements, as well as for communications service providers and data centres (DCs).
Deshraj states that Sterlite Power aims to aggregate utility-grade infrastructure, including OPGW fibre and substations, and build a reliable network for telecom service providers and carriers across the country.
According to him, the telecom sector is witnessing two major trends. On the enterprise business-to-business (B2B) side, there is a massive shift towards cloud service providers hosted at DCs, along with the government’s push for content localisation, leading to a huge demand for building new DCs. Meanwhile, on the consumer side, as two operators have rolled out 5G services and Vodafone Idea and BSNL plan to follow suit, there will be increased traction for new-age applications using artificial intelligence, machine learning and IoT. To stay ahead of this trend, Sterlite Power is collaborating with operators across the country to provide them with OPGW fibre. “Our plan, in the next three years, is to build a large portfolio of OPGW fibre across key B2B hubs in the country. We are also working to build edge data centres by leveraging our passive infrastructure facilities to support over-the-top providers, content delivery networks and hyperscalers in the country looking to expand their presence in Tier 3 & 4 towns.”
Among his many career accomplishments, some of the most memorable include creating and implementing the industry’s first customer-centric network operation model, managing operations across 22 circles at Telenor, and successfully launching GSM services in just three months in Maharashtra and Goa.
Deshraj is an electronics and communications engineer specialising in optical. In his spare time, he enjoys watching movies and following cricket. His family comprises his wife and their son, who is pursuing a degree in engineering.
