Telenor names new CEOs for Myanmar and Thailand, revamps Asia management team
Norway’s Telenor Group has announced changes to the management team for its Asia operations, with Sharad Mehrotra being named CEO of Telenor Myanmar and Alexandra Reich CEO of DTAC, Telenor’s operation in Thailand.
Mehrotra (pictured left) succeeds Lars Erik Tellman, who has been appointed to a senior position in Telenor’s emerging Asia cluster supporting management, partnerships and business development of the cluster.
Mehrotra joined Telenor in 2008 and is currently serving as its India CEO. He will assume his new role on August 1.
Reich (pictured right) replaces Lars-Åke Norling, who has accepted a position outside Telenor Group. She joined Telenor in November 2016 and is currently CEO of Telenor Hungary and head of the group’s Central Eastern Europe cluster. She will take the helm of dtac prior to the end of the current CEO's tenure, according to the company statement.
Digi Malaysia current CEO Albern Murty will join Telenor Group’s executive management team and will be responsible for the Developed Asia cluster. In his new role effective August 1, Murty will retain his position in Digi Malaysia and oversee Telenor’s operations in Thailand as well as Malaysia.
Ajay Chitkara to take helms at Airtel Business
Bharti Airtel has appointed Ajay Chitkara as director and CEO of its business-to-business arm, Airtel Business. He replaces Ashok Ganapathy, who quit the company.
In his new role, Chitkara will run the Indian telco’s local and global enterprise operations and continue to report to Gopal Vittal, MD & CEO of Bharti Airtel (India and South Asia).
Chitkara has been with Airtel since 2001 and is credited with building brand Airtel in the global wholesale segment.
“In his previous role as director and CEO of Global Business and Nxtra, Chitkara was responsible for creating business strategies for carriers, global enterprise and OTT segments, and implementing them globally through the regional teams,” Airtel said in a statement. “Under Ajay’s leadership, Global Business grew in topline to become a billion dollar business, while EBIT margins jumped five-fold since 2013.”
Airtel also announced the appointment of Pankaj Miglani as CEO of Global Business. Previously Pankaj was CFO of Bharti Infratel and played a key role in the company’s IPO in 2012. He will report to Ajay Chitkara.
Commenting on the appointments, Vittal said, “I am delighted at Ajay’s appointment to lead Airtel’s B2B business as an integrated entity, which will help us leverage our global reach and deep relationships in the enterprise segment. I am also pleased to welcome back Pankaj after his successful stint with Bharti Infratel.”