Airtel's Gopal Vittal appointed as board member of GSMA

Gopal Vittal, MD & CEO (India and South Asia), Bharti Airtel has been elected to the Board of GSMA for the 2019-2020 term.

Bharti Airtel has had a long-standing association with the GSMA. Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Airtel, has also served as board member of GSMA between 2005 and 2008 and as the Chairman of a board of GSMA between 2016 and 2018.

Vittal will join 25 other distinguished leaders from across the world to provide strategic guidance and roadmap to the organization, which represents more than 750 of the world's mobile operators.

Vittal said, "I feel privileged to have been given the opportunity to serve the world's premier mobile association. I look forward to working with the GSMA Board members to put out the industry's growth vision in an increasingly digitally integrated world."

Gopal was previously worked with Bharti Enterprises where he was the Group Director of Special Projects.

In this capacity, he worked towards formulating and supporting Airtel's International strategy and expansion. He also held the post of Director, Marketing at Bharti Airtel where he made significant contributions towards driving revenue growth, market leadership and building Airtel as an iconic brand.

In addition, Gopal has also been with Hindustan Unilever, where he headed the $3.5bn Home and Personal Care Division. Over a twenty year tenure at Unilever, he worked on several national and global assignments across sales, marketing, and general management.

Gopal is an alumnus of Madras Christian College and has completed his MBA from IIM, Kolkata.

The GSMA also represents over 350 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset and device makers, software companies, equipment providers and internet companies, as well as organizations in adjacent industry sectors.