Airtel appoints Raghunath Mandava as MD and CEO, Africa

06 Dec 2016

Bharti Airtel has appointed Raghunath Mandava as managing director and chief executive officer of Airtel Africa with effect from January 1, 2017.

At present, Mandava, who had joined Airtel Africa as chief operating officer in July 2016, is the chief operating officer with Airtel Africa. He is also a permanent invitee to the board of Bharti Airtel, representing Airtel Africa.

Mandava joined Airtel in 2003 and served as director, operations (India), chief marketing officer (India), CEO, Rajasthan Circle (India) and COO, Tamil Nadu Circle (India). Prior to joining Airtel, he worked with Unilever in several sales and marketing roles.

Airtel also designated Christian Defaria, executive chairman, Airtel Africa as chairman of Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands) BV, effective 1 January 2017. Defariawill ensure smooth handing over of all operational matters to Mandava, and will continue to support him and the team on regulatory, government and shareholder matters.