In a major organisational restructuring, telecom giant Bharti Airtel Thursday split its business into eight segments with a view to build a more
connected organisation.
The company, which had last week announced
appointment of Manoj Kohli as its new Managing Director, Thursday said its
operations will be divided into eight hubs from the current three
regional hubs.
The hubs will report to Ajai Puri, who has been
elevated to the newly created position of Director (Market Operations).
Puri will report to Joint MD and CEO Designate for India Gopal Vittal.
The changes will be effective from March 1, 2013.
"The
new organisation design is aimed at furthering the company's
initiatives to build a more connected organisation, which is closer to
the market place and is able to deliver a world-class experience to
customers," Bharti Airtel said in a statement.
Various telecom circles will be clubbed to form hubs.
"Circle
CEOs will continue to report to a Hub CEO and operate with the same
level of independence (as they do now), while the Hub CEO will provide
overall guidance and oversight to the telecom circles under it," it
added.
Among other changes, Raghunath Mandava, currently
Operations Director (West & Distribution) has been elevated as
Director (Customer Experience). He will also report to Vittal.
Airtel
Business CMO Najib Khan will now take over as CEO (Homes and Office),
where he will be responsible for telemedia business, SMB vertical, LTE
and Wi-fi services. K Srinivas will take over as Director (Special
Projects) and will be responsible for evaluating potential investment
opportunities and developing business case across various lines of
business. He will report to Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal.
Last
week, Bharti Airtel had appointed Kohli as Managing Director and said
its founder Sunil Mittal will assume the role of Executive Chairman.
Vittal,
who will take over as the new CEO in March, was named Additional
Director and Joint Managing Director of Bharti Airtel. He was named
chief executive after the firm's India CEO Sanjay Kapoor stepped down
last month.
The management rejig comes at a time when the company
is looking at improving profitability while increasing both 3G and 4G
subscriber base.
Bharti Airtel is also grappling with uncertain regulatory environment and bleeding business in Africa.