Uninor appoints Vivek Sood as CEO

Uninor has announced the appointment of Vivek Sood as CEO, Uninor. Morten Karlsen Sørby steps down as CEO of Uninor due to illness in his immediate family and will assume a new role in Telenor Group.

Uninor has also appointed a new CMO, Upanga Dutta replacing Rajeev Sethi, who moves to Grameenphone as CEO. All the changes are effective December 1, 2014, but Morten will remain as an advisor to the Uninor top management until January 1, 2015.

“Grameenphone and Uninor are currently experiencing significant market growth and they are both delivering on the strategic ambition of Internet for All. Combined, the two companies represent nearly 90 million mobile customers. Grameenphone is an undisputed market leader in Bangladesh and Uninor continues to capture market share in India. With these executive changes, Telenor aims to stimulate further growth and strengthen our position with customers in these markets,” says Sigve Brekke, Executive Vice President and Head of Telenor in Asia.

“I would like to express Telenor Group’s gratitude to Morten Karlsen Sørby, who has served as Uninor’s CEO since January 2014. During this period, Uninor has continued to carve out its position in the highly competitive Indian telecom market. Morten has, along with his team, strengthened the Sabse Sasta (best on value) promise to our customers by making affordable data services available to the mass market. We respect his decision to step down in order to take care of his immediate family in Sweden, and look forward to work with him in a new role with the group,” Sigve Brekke, Executive Vice President and Head of Telenor in Asia.

Vivek Sood is moving back to India from his position as CEO in Grameenphone, the largest mobile operator in Bangladesh. During his two year tenure Grameenphone has significantly strengthened its market position and gained financial strength. Under him Grameenphone crossed the 50 million customer milestone and became first country within the Telenor Group to do so. Before moving to Grameenphone, Sood was the chief financial officer (CFO) at Uninor. He has more than 20 years of experience with companies such as Tata AIG Life Insurance, Hutchison Telecom, Tupperware India and Hindustan Lever Limited (Unilever).

“I am happy to return to Uninor and to work with a passionate team which is delivering strongly, both on revenues and subscriber share. With the extension of Uninor’s Sabse Sasta proposition to Internet-based services and ongoing investments in the network across all circles, the company is set to deliver further growth,” said Vivek Sood, CEO, Uninor.

Rajeev Sethi, who has been appointed by Grameenphone’s Board of Directors as its new CEO, has served as CMO in Uninor for nearly two years. Prior to that Sethi spent more than three years as the head of Uninor’s Uttar Pradesh (East) circle. He has significant ICT industry experience including executive engagements in companies such as Vodafone, HP, Hutchison Telecom and Asian Paints. Sethi is an MBA in marketing, finance and operations from the Indian Institute of Management in Lucknow.

Upanga Dutta, Uninor’s new Chief Marketing Officer, also brings operational experience from his previous assignments as senior vice president and head of company’s largest circle, UP (East). Upanga was part of the team that launched Uninor’s services in Mumbai and became the fourth largest operator in customer market share. Prior to joining Uninor in 2009, Upanga has worked with Idea, Bharti Airtel and Carrier Aircon. He has received his MBA in marketing from Narsee Monjee Institute and has an electrical engineering degree from the Delhi College of Engineering.