Telenor India announced that it has appointed Sharad Mehrotra as its new chief executive officer. Mehrotra will succeed Vivek Sood who has been appointed executive vice president and chief marketing officer of the Telenor Group. The company mentioned both appointments will be effective from November 1.
Mehrotra previously functioned as chief marketing officer (CMO) of Telenor Myanmar, where he played a key role in the launch of Telenor’s mobile services. Before joining Telenor Myanmar, Mehrotra served as head of Telenor Group’s Asia Distribution program driving regional synergies and scale. He also played a key role in the establishment of Uninor, as part of the management from 2008 to 2013.
In his new role, Sood will be responsible to improve Telenor Group’s customer experience, innovation and digital data growth.
Telenor said that the new management shuffle was done to reflect the group’s international footprint with nine members in the new team being non-Norwegians.
Other appointments include Ruza Sabanovic as EVP and chief technology officer, Wenche Agerup as EVP and chief corporate affairs officer and Jon Gravråk as EVP and chief digital officer.
In May, Telenor also appointed Morten Karlsen Sørby as the head of Asia region. Sørby would be responsible for overseeing and running Telenor’s Asia operations and join the group executive management team.
Uninor financials
For the quarter ended June 30, Telenor group has reported total India revenues of NOK 1.362 billion (around Rs 1064.29 crore as per current rates) for the quarter, registering a 9% increase from NOK 1.021 billion in the same quarter last year registering a growth of 33.4%. However, on a sequential basis, revenues were down marginally by 1.51% from NOK 1.383 billion. However, the company reported a positive EBITDA of NOK 24 million for the quarter. It had reported an EBITDA loss of NOK 54 million in the preceding quarter and NOK 106 million in the same quarter last year.
The company also mentioned that 26% of Uninor’s subscribers were active Internet connections. While the company did not disclose any specific number on Uninor’s active Internet base in the country, Uninor reported a total connection base of 39.849 million for the quarter. This translated to an Internet subscriber base of 10.36 million.
