MAM
Old, rich, married Americans give telemkting the thumbs down
WASHINGTON: Here is a piece of information that should make people in the business of telemarketing goods and services sit up and take notice. Two-thirds of Americans have indicated their willingness to sign up for the newly established “Do not call” registry. This is a single registry which will exempt US households from many types of telemarketing calls.
These results are contained in a survey of 1,000 Americans which was conducted from 27-30 June 2003 by WirthlinWorldwide, a strategic opinion research and consulting firm. A Centre For Media Research report indicates that households that say they are most likely to sign up are older and higher-income Americans as well as those that are married.
Older Americans have had more than their fill of telemarketing calls. 56 per cent have said they definitely will sign up for the new “Do not call” registry. In addition, 83 per cent of America’s highest income households, those with more than $60,000 in household income and a disproportionate amount of buying power, indicate they are considering registration (63 per cent definitely will, 20 per cent might).
The survey also confirms that married consumers, especially those with children, are more likely than the average to put their name on the list. Nearly six in ten married consumers say they definitely will sign up, while those that are single or without children are less likely to register. The percentage figure for both is in the thirties.
A related Reuters report states that telemarketing companies will have to pay over $7,000 per client to purchase the new nationwide “do-not-call” list of phone numbers. The US Federal Trade Commission(FTC) set the $7,345 fee that helps fund the do-not-call list. The restrictions on telemarketers starts from 1 October.
From that date the FTC can start taking legal action against companies that make telemarketing calls to registered consumers with penalties of up to $11,000 per call. Meanwhile telemarketers are challenging the list in court. America’s Direct Marketing Association has said the list is too expensive and telemarketers should have to pay only once.
The do-not-call registry has grown to nearly 29 million phone numbers since the FTC started letting consumers sign up last month, and the agency expects the list eventually will grow to 60 million numbers. Telemarketers that buy the list will have access to the numbers starting on 1 September says the FTC. They can buy the whole list or pay $25 per area code for part of it.
Brands
Tessolve lands a semiconductor veteran to drive its next big push
Ravi Kumar Chirugudu, who started his career at ISRO and has spent 35 years building chips and companies, joins the Bengaluru-based firm as president and chief operating officer
BENGALURU: Tessolve has never been shy about its ambitions. The Bengaluru-based engineering services firm already counts 18 of the world’s top 20 semiconductor companies among its clients, employs more than 3,500 engineers across 12 countries, and last year pocketed a $150m investment from TPG. Now it has hired the executive it believes can turn those assets into something bigger. Ravi Kumar Chirugudu, a 35-year semiconductor veteran who once built satellite payloads for ISRO and has since scaled engineering organisations across three continents, joins as president and chief operating officer, effective immediately.
THE MAN AND THE MANDATE
The appointment is, by any measure, a serious hire. Ravi Kumar Chirugudu comes to Tessolve after senior leadership stints at HCL Technologies, Altran and Wipro, where he managed large profit-and-loss portfolios and oversaw cross-regional teams. Over the course of his career, he has been instrumental in bringing more than 1,000 new products to market across the high-tech, energy and manufacturing verticals. Before the private sector claimed him, he began his working life as a scientist at the Indian Space Research Organisation, contributing to research and development in charge-coupled device technology and satellite payloads, a foundation that shaped everything that followed.
In his new role, he will lead Tessolve’s global growth strategy: expanding its engineering capabilities, deepening customer relationships and accelerating innovation across semiconductor and high-performance computing domains. The brief is broad, but the context is specific. Tessolve operates in the $550 billion global semiconductor market, and its recent moves, the acquisition of Germany’s Dream Chip Technologies and the TPG funding round, have sharpened both its reach and its expectations.
Srini Chinamilli, co-founder and chief executive of Tessolve, is characteristically direct about why Ravi Kumar Chirugudu was the choice:
“As we scale our global semiconductor and system engineering capabilities, Ravi’s appointment marks an important step forward. As global semiconductor demand continues to accelerate across industries, it is creating significant opportunities across the semiconductor lifecycle, from design, packaging, validation and systems integration. Ravi’s deep knowledge and leadership in this ecosystem brings the right mix of industry expertise, customer connect and execution capability, which will play a key role in strengthening our position as a trusted global engineering partner and reinforcing our market leadership.”
THE NEW ARRIVAL SPEAKS
Ravi Kumar Chirugudu, for his part, frames the move in terms of timing and culture, two factors that veteran executives tend to weigh as heavily as title or compensation:
“I am happy to join Tessolve at a time when the industry is rapidly evolving towards more complex, AI-driven systems. What stands out to me is its strong people-first culture and its commitment to bringing value to its customers. The strength of its global team, combined with its deep expertise in semiconductor innovation and next-generation product engineering, creates a solid foundation to build differentiated, scalable solutions. I look forward to working closely with the team to drive strategic growth and strengthen its role in shaping the global semiconductor ecosystem.”
The reference to AI-driven systems is not incidental. The semiconductor industry is in the midst of a structural reshaping, driven by the insatiable compute demands of artificial intelligence. For engineering services firms like Tessolve, which offers end-to-end capabilities from silicon design to packaged parts and invests in high-performance computing, high-speed interfaces, photonics and 5G, the moment is both an opportunity and a test. The company says it is well positioned to capture the next wave of industry growth. Ravi Kumar Chirugudu is now the person who has to prove it.
He came in from outer space, literally, and spent three decades learning how the semiconductor industry works from the inside out. Now Tessolve is betting that accumulated knowledge can help it cross the next frontier. In the $550 billion global chip market, the gap between ambition and execution is measured in engineering hours and leadership quality. Tessolve has just gone shopping for both.
