Gopal Vittal re-elected as COAI Chairman

NEW DELHI: Gopal Vittal, managing director and chief executive officer (India and South Asia) of Bharti Airtel was re-elected as chairman of Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), for 2017-18.

COAI is an industry association of GSM mobile service providers in India.

Vittal is joined by Sunil Sood, ‎Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer - Vodafone India Ltd who will continue as the Vice-Chairman of COAI. The association also designated its Executive Council for the next term at the meeting.

He is an alumnus of Madras Christian College and IIM Kolkata, he has over 25 years of experience in telecom and FMCG sectors including companies like Singapore-based Singtel and Hindustan Unilever where he headed the USD 3.5 bn Home & Personal Care Division.

Sood - Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Vodafone India Limited, also an Industry veteran having had a long stints at Pepsico, in india and Bangladesh as well companies like Nestle and Safaricom. He has an MBA from Indian Institute of Management Calcutta and a BE from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.

“The telecom industry, this year, witnessed several iconic initiatives and the industry leapfrogged, playing critical roles in the government’s major policy initiatives like the JAM trinity, and mission-mode programs like Digital India and Skill India. The telecom sector has been one of the primary drivers of India’s economic growth – contributing 6.5% to the national GDP. This has been an eventful year for the industry, with tariffs hitting rock bottom, internet penetration going up to 30 %, India’s data appetite growing with low cost of access and spectrum harmonisation, trading and sharing being enabled the industry hopes to see a fully connected and digitally empowered India," said Rajan S Mathews, Director General, COAI.

“The big events this year have been the consolidation between fairly big players, a consequence of the industry reeling under severe financial stress. There is a need for the industry to spend as much as a thousand crores in the next few years towards both Capex and spectrum. This will be very difficult given the current state of affairs. Access is the key and the industry remains committed to connecting the unconnected and making India a fully connected and digitally empowered nation," he added.

“I personally thank our chairman and vice chairman for their bold and courageous leadership during one of the most challenging periods in the history of India’s telecom sector and further express confidence in their ability to steer the association and the sector towards long term health and stability. Despite the rollercoaster year that we have had, we have been able to stand steadfast. It always amazes me at how they are able to make the time away from the market place for supporting the association. And I can assure that the association will continue to support the sector and the industry on its way forward through whatever hardships that may come," said Mathews.

The AGM was followed by an informative High Level Leaders Panel Discussion on ‘Delivering the Digital Future’ which saw contributions from senior officials from the Government and the industry leaders including Dr. Ajay Kumar, Additional Secretary, MeitY, Himanshu Kapania, Managing Director, Idea Cellular Ltd, Dr. Anand Agarwal, CEO & Director, Sterlite Technologies, and Paolo Colella, MD & Region Head - India, Ericsson. Sood and Mathews were also part of the panel.

Speaking on behalf of the government, Dr. Ajay Kumar, re-affirmed that the Digital India program has transformed India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. Its long term vision aims to connect every citizen, and provide access to government and other key information services on demand thereby enabling digital empowerment of every citizen.

"India is the fastest growing digital market in the world - be this in the form of number of devices or even the amount of data that is flowing through these devices. This is a tremendous opportunity before us. The fact is the Indian telecom sector is the one that really set the agenda for the Digital India programme. Way back in the nineties, the sector showed us that the one way to scale up to the whole country was to make it available at a low or affordable price. Now we are able to provide technology to the last mile by making it affordable, and thereby enable people to better their lives – just by the use of technology," he added.

He also announced the soon to be launched National Cyber Security Cell and various CERTs, emphasizing on a collective& collaborative approach for Cyber security, hailing – e- payments, mobile payments, IoT, Digital Payments, Digital Locker as the big thrust areas for the government and the industry .