BPL Mobile Communications has elevated Deepak Varma to president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the cellular services in Mumbai.
This comes in the wake of Girish Rangan, executive director and CEO of BPL Mobile, stepping down to join Venture Infotek. Rangan will soon join Venture Infotek as its managing director.
When contacted, Varma, the present deputy CEO of BPL Mobile, confirmed the development. Varma will be spearheading the company's expansions in the Mumbai cellular circle and will report to FB Cardoso, executive director (ED) and CEO of BPL Mobile Cellular.
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In addition to the responsibilities of BPL Mobile Cellular, which offers cellular services in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, Cardoso will have additional charges of BPL Mobile Communications as well, according to a senior BPL executives. BPL Mobile is the cellular licencee in Mumbai.
Varma's main responsibilities will be to regain BPL's numero uno status in the Mumbai cellular circle. At present, BPL is the second largest cellular operator in Mumbai with a subscriber-base of 3.78 lakh users, while its rival Hutchison Max Telecom is the dominant player with 3.8 lakh customers. Mahanagar Telephone Nigam, the third cellular operator has around 86,000 users.
According to analysts, all the three cellular operators in Mumbai - Hutchison, BPL and MTNL will have to face tough competition from the country's largest cellular operator, Bharti Tele-Ventures, when it hits the market sometime in May/June as the fourth cellular operator.