E-Paper
Sanjeev Aga to head GSM lobby
Cellular Operators Association of India, is likely to unanimously elect Sanjeev Aga of Aditya Birla Group as its next chairman.
Cellular Operators Association of India, the group representing GSM mobile service providers, is likely to unanimously elect Sanjeev Aga of Aditya Birla Group as its next chairman.
Election of Aga would be against normal practice of Vice Chairman succeeding as the next Chairman. Vikram Mahimi, CEO of Idea cellular is the current Vice Chairman of COAI.
According to sources, Aga is the unanimous choice of all the members of the COAI, which would hold its Annual General Meeting on February 2.
Election of Aga as top functionary of COAI is also seen in the industry as a sign of the growing clout of Tata-Birla duo (equal partners in Idea Cellular), with Tata Group senior executive Mukund Rajan already elected chairman of the CDMA lobby 'AUSPI' and Aga at COAI.
If elected, Aga would become Chairman of COAI for the second time within a span of just five years.
Sources said that COAI has already written to its members of not holding any elections in view of unanimity on Aga's name as next Chairman replacing Anil Nayyar of Bharti Group.
COAI has always been considered as a strong private telecom operators' lobby due to presence of big players like Sunil Mittal-owned Bharti Group, Hutch and Idea as its members along with many smaller players.
Two state-owned companies -- MTNL and BSNL -- are not members of the lobby.
The two lobbies of GSM and CDMA operators have been at loggerheads on various crucial issues like spectrum allocation and uniform tariffs - India One.
