Nokia names Priya Narayanan as Client Chief Technology Officer

MUMBAI: Every great network needs a strong signal at the top, and Nokia has just amplified its leadership in India. Nokia has appointed Priya Narayanan as Client Chief Technology Officer for India, elevating a long-serving technology strategist to a customer-facing leadership role as telecom operators accelerate network transformation and next-generation connectivity initiatives.

Narayanan announced the appointment on LinkedIn, where she said she was looking forward to helping customers, partners and stakeholders turn emerging technologies into tangible business impact.

In her new role, she will lead strategic technology engagements with customer C-suite executives and develop cross-business solution strategies for large communications service providers (CSPs) across India, helping shape long-term technology roadmaps.

The appointment marks another step in Narayanan’s nearly 18-year career in the telecommunications sector. Most recently, she spent more than four years as Principal Consultant at Nokia Bell Labs, advising leading telecom operators on technology strategy, innovation and future network evolution. Her work focused on areas including 5G monetisation, Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN), network reliability and large-scale network transformation.

Before joining Bell Labs, Narayanan held several technology leadership positions within Nokia, including Technology Expert, Technology Lead and Core NPO Expert, contributing to the company’s Global Delivery Centre and network planning initiatives.

Her earlier experience includes almost six years at Airtel, where she led core network operations spanning voice, data, IP, mobile packet backbone (MPBN) and VoLTE services, alongside roles in LTE, 3G, 2G and Wi-Fi planning and optimisation.

She also worked at Nokia Siemens Networks, supporting network planning and optimisation before transitioning to Airtel following the acquisition of the team, and began her career at Alcatel-Lucent, where she progressed from Graduate Engineer to Packet Core Subject Matter Expert.

The leadership appointment comes at a pivotal time for India’s telecom industry as operators shift their focus from 5G deployment to monetisation while preparing for emerging technologies such as 6G, satellite connectivity and AI-driven network automation.

With deep expertise spanning network engineering, strategy and customer engagement, Narayanan’s elevation underscores Nokia’s continued emphasis on strengthening its technology leadership as communications service providers navigate the next phase of digital infrastructure transformation.