Voice&Data presents annual Telecom Leadership Awards 2023

Lifetime Achievement Award presented to Mukesh Ambani and Telecom Person of the Year Award for 2023 conferred upon K Rajaraman.

The Pathbreaker of the Year was conferred upon the enablers of the world's largest 5G network, jointly to the Department of Telecommunications, Mathew Oommen, and Gopal Vittal

Voice&Data, India’s oldest and leading communication magazine, announced the prestigious Telecom Leadership Awards for the year 2023 at the 23rd Telecom Leadership Forum (TLF) in New Delhi. 

The Voice&Data Lifetime Achievement Award was conferred upon Reliance Industries CMD Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani in recognition of his contribution towards democratizing connectivity, catalyzing the data revolution, and bridging the digital divide. It also recognized his commitment to fostering indigenous technological capabilities, enabling the development of a homegrown 5G ecosystem, propelling India towards self-reliance, and unlocking profound economic opportunities.

The Voice&Data Telecom Person of the Awards for 2023 was conferred upon K Rajaraman, Chairman, International Financial Services Centres Authority (former Telecom Secretary) for his visionary leadership and proactive approach in creating the roadmap for 5G rollout in India, enabling a conducive environment for strengthening telecom equipment manufacturing, as well as streamlining the decision-making system at the DoT.

The award also recognizes his initiatives towards the formulation of the Indian Telegraph (Infrastructure Safety) Rules 2022addressing the safety concerns of the existing telecom infrastructure, developing the 6G roadmap and the ecosystem for satellite communications, including a single-window clearance platform for all satellite-related networks.

The Pathbreaker of the Year Award for 2023 was conferred upon the enablers of the world's largest 5G network rollout in the shortest time. It was given jointly to the Department of Telecommunication under the leadership of Dr. Neeraj Mittal, Reliance Jio President Mathew Oommen, and Bharti Airtel Managing Director and CEO Gopal Vittal for their pivotal role in enabling India to achieve an overall 100-million 5G subscriber mark by the end of December 2023.

The awards were decided by a Jury process chaired by Dr R K Upadhyay, CEO of C-DOT. The Jury was co-chaired by Sanjay Nayak, Co-founder of Tejas Networks, and Pradeep Gupta, CMD, CyberMedia.

The TLF also saw the presentation of the V&D Excellence Awards for the year 2023 in nine (9) categories, for their initiatives in different aspects of business, including network infrastructure, network services, business process innovation, communication platform, Make in India, multilingual internet, and Internet of Things. The award is an industry recognition based on nomination and through an internal evaluation process of the V&D team.

The TLF was attended by over 240 technology and business decision-makers and policymakers across telecommunication, enterprise, start-ups, academia, and the influencer ecosystem. With the focus on ‘Envisioning the Connected Future’, the TLF 2024 delved into the essentials of a seamless, connected world brought about by advancements in telecommunication technologies, mobile platforms, and digital infrastructure.

The TLF is powered by Platinum AI Partners HPE and PC Solutions, and supported by Gold Partner Ciena, Connectivity Partner AT&T Business, Telecom Partner Vodafone Idea Limited, Digital Transformation Partner Jio Business, Research Partner CyberMedia Research, and Media Partner Dataquest. It is also supported by Broadband India Forum, CMAI, Digital Infrastructure Providers Association, ICEA, Indian Space Association, TEMA, and Telecom Sector Skill Council of India.