Asim Ghosh to quit as Vodafone CEO

07 February 2009

After 10 years at the helm, Vodafone Essar chief executive officer Asim Ghosh is to retire on March 31. Marten Pieters, who is currently a director on the board of Luxembourg-based Millicom International Cellular, will replace him. Ghosh will continue as a non-executive member of the Vodafone Essar board.

Ghosh joined the company in August 1998, when it was a single-circle operation offering services in Mumbai under the Max Touch brand. Today, the company is India's third-largest telecom operator after Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications, with over 63 million subscribers and presence in 21 out of the 22 circles in the country.

"We started on our ride in Mumbai in 1998. We never realised then what a roller coaster it would be. Today, serving tens of millions of subscribers, with a fabulous team, a great brand, a company with a great future, it's been a ride I wouldn't exchange for anything else," Ghosh said in a statement on Friday.

"With Marten, the company will be in great hands," Ghosh added. Pieters was earlier the chief executive officer of Celtel International BV, which is now Africa's second-largest African mobile operator.

Max Telecom changed many hands before it became Vodafone Essar in February 2007. Ghosh is known for steering the company during some of its most challenging times, including the sale of a 67 per cent stake by Hutchison Telecommunications to Vodafone.

Ghosh had joined Hutchison Whampoa Ltd, which went on to take over Max Telecom, in March 1991. He is a graduate of electrical engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, and a master in business administration from Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.