Sawhny steps down as RCom CEO; Barney, Singh acting Co-CEOs

Reliance Communications today said its CEO Vinod Sawhny has stepped down, and William Barney and Gurdeep Singh will take over as acting Co-CEOs with immediate effect.
"...The company has accepted request of Vinod Sawhny to step down as Chief Executive Officer of the company with effect from September 30, 2016, to enable him and his family to relocate to New Delhi for personal reasons," the company said in a BSE filing.
"William (Bill) Barney and Gurdeep Singh, who are already working with the company, will function as acting Co-CEOs with immediate effect," it added.
William Barney has been the CEO of Global Cloud Xchange and India Enterprise Business, while Gurdeep Singh was so far the CEO of the company's consumer business.

The announcement comes at a time when Reliance Communications and Aircel have announced the merger of their wireless operations to create a combined entity with assets worth Rs 65,000 crore, marking the biggest consolidation deal in India's telecom sector.
RCom and Maxis Communications Berhad (MCB) hold 50 per cent each in the merged entity with equal representation on the board and committees.
The merger will create India's fourth largest telecom operator by customer base and revenues. The merged entity will have the second-largest spectrum holding among all operators, aggregating 448 MHz across 850, 900, 1800 and 2100 MHz bands.
Reliance Communications had yesterday said Rajasthan High Court has approved its deal to acquire Russian conglomerate Sistema's Indian telecom unit, Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd (SSTL), that operates under the MTS brand.