The government on Saturday appointed Rakesh Kumar Upadhyay as the chairman and managing director of telecom giant BSNL. “He (Upadhyay) will join the office (of BSNL chief) on Saturday,” said DoT Secretary, R Chandrashekhar. However, no decision regarding the appointment of a chief for MTNL, another public sector telecom major, had been taken, he added.
A search-cum-selection panel had earlier selected Upadhyay, chairman and managing director of Telecom Consultants India Ltd, for the BSNL chief's post. The panel was headed by Sam Pitroda, advisor to the prime minister on public information infrastructure and innovations, and included Cabinet secretary K M Chandresekhar, principal secretary to the Prime Minister T K A Nair and Unique Identification Authority of India chairman Nandan Nilekani. These members were scheduled to select the top officials of the two telecom majors.
Upadhyay is 1975 batch officer of the Indian Telecom Services. He holds a B Tech (electronics) degree from Banaras Hindu University and a marketing management degree from the Indira Gandhi National Open University.