 "Sharad Mehrotra appointed CEO of Telenor India")
Mehrotra will succeed Vivek Sood who has been appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of the Telenor Group. Both appointments will be effective from 1 November 2015, the company said in a statement.
Mehrotra was earlier Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of Telenor Myanmar, where he has played a key role in the successful launch of Telenor's mobile services. He was also a part of management in India from 2008-2013 during establishment of Uninor, now Telenor India. As CEO of Telenor India, Mehrotra will also be a member of Telenor Group's executive management.
"Sharad has extensive knowledge about the Indian telecom market, and international experience from other Telenor operations. He will return to India with strong ambition to further develop the company as a profitable operator, and the preferred choice for the mass market," said Sigve Brekke, President and CEO of Telenor Group.
"India is one of the most competitive mobile markets in the world, and Telenor India has rapidly grown into a top position in the areas where we operate," Mehrotra said.
Sood will be responsible for strengthening Telenor Group's focus on and ability to improve customer journeys, ensure continued innovation, and create value from digital data growth.
Last month, Uninor had rebranded itself to Telenor India. It had entered the Indian telecom market in 2009. India is one of the fastest growing markets for Telenor with about 47.5 million users. Globally the company has 190 million subscribers. For the second quarter this year, India revenue contributed to about 12 per cent to total revenues from Asia. And Asia contributes about 53 per cent to the global revenue.
Telenor has had a tough time after entering India through a joint venture realty firm Unitech for offering telecom services. In 2010, it suffered a setback when a Supreme Court order cancelled the licences of all the new players given out by former telecom minister A Raja. Telenor participated in the auction later and bagged spectrum in six circles, where it is now operational. Unitech later exited the company and last year, when government allowed 100 per cent FDI in telecom, Uninor was made 100 per cent subsidiary of Telenor.
The company, though, currently offers prepaid 2G services to its users but is making its network ready for future services such as 4G. Telenor India operates in six circles -- Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh East and West and soon plans to launch services in Assam.
