Broadband
Airtel-Telenor to expand home broadband to 2 mn
MUMBAI: Airtel’s acquisition of Telenor will provide the broadband business a boost. As India is an under-served market in broadband, the company is planning to expand its home pass footprint to 2 million in FY19.
“For us, last couple of years we have been rolling out about 500,000 to 600,000 home passes. This year, our plan is to step it up to close to 2 million. We have begun this quarter in a slightly slower wicket, it takes time to ramp up, getting clearances and permissions and all. So you will see a step-up in our broadband, home broadband investment during the course of this year,” Bharti Airtel India CEO Gopal Vittal said.
The company will also be looking at replacing in the marquee areas wherever they are in copper right now, to convert that into fiber. So that could be another 1 million-1.5 million home passes while all of it is planned in the next three, four to five quarters.
Though APRUs are in constant pressure in the segment, the company thinks in long run this is an extremely profitable business to be in. In the home business segments, the company’s focus generally is highrises where the cost of rollout and capex is substantially lower than a flatbed. Moreover, it goes only for marquee flatbeds. Hence, the company is highly optimistic about this segment despite Jio’s recent GigaFiber rollout.
In May, Department of Telecom’s (DoT) final nod completed Bharti Airtel and Telenor India’s fruitful merger and the company has net added 28 million customers from the acquisition. Though the overall number was approximately 31 million, it has lost 3-3.5 million customers, purely on account of dual simming or any other reason. While Reliance Jio’s entry in the market and ongoing tariff war has made the competition tough for the company, the merger may help it to stand in a better position.
Vittal said the merger was very well planned. On the network side addition, the company knew exactly which site it needed and did not as there was no point of having a duplicate network. “The first 30 days (after the merger got approval), we actually shut off three circles. And then the next 30 days, we shut off another couple of circles. And we are now left with just one circle, which will be shut down very soon,” he said.
Following DoT also nodded to Vodafone-Idea merger, the telecom industry in India is heading to a three players market largely. Vittal thinks the company is reaching a point where all the players are getting larger by the day. “There is a strong possibility that at the low levels of pricing, which are clearly sustainable in terms of return on capital and all the investments that have gone into the industry, also the fact that just an incredible amount of allowances that are being given to customers, I think some of this has to correct,” he commented.
Broadband
Tejas Networks names Arnob Roy as MD and CEO, overhauls top leadership team
The Bengaluru-based telecom gear maker reshuffles its entire top team even as quarterly revenue collapses by 83 per cent
BENGALURU: Tejas Networks is changing the guard at the top, and doing so at speed. The Bengaluru-headquartered telecom equipment maker has elevated Arnob Roy as managing director and chief executive officer, effective April 15, 2026, for a term running through to August 3, 2028, and in the same breath announced new appointments across operations and finance. The timing is pointed: the company is navigating one of the roughest patches in its recent history.
Roy steps up from his role as executive director and chief operating officer, a position he has held since March 2019. He brings more than three decades of experience in the high-technology sector across research and development, operations, and sales. His predecessor, Anand Athreya, resigned last year citing personal reasons and was relieved on June 20, 2025, leaving a gap at the top that has now been formally filled.
The numbers Roy inherits are sobering. Tejas posted a net loss of Rs 211.3 crore in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2026, a near-194 per cent widening year on year from Rs 71.8 crore in the same period a year earlier. Revenue for the quarter collapsed 82.6 per cent year on year to Rs 333 crore, down from Rs 1,907 crore. EBITDA swung to a loss of Rs 118.2 crore against a profit of Rs 121.5 crore a year ago. The culprit is not hard to identify: Tejas has derived the bulk of its revenue from BSNL’s fourth-generation network project, delivered as part of a Tata Consultancy Services-driven consortium, and that roll-out is now winding down.
Roy, speaking during a post-earnings conference call with analysts, was candid about where the company has been. “The BSNL 4G network went live across 100,000 sites. We deployed our largest indigenous router networks in the country through the BSNL MAN network, as well as in the BharatNet Phase 3 network,” he said, adding that Tejas had also successfully rolled out its 400G and 800G DWDM equipment in domestic and international markets, and continued the deployment of what it describes as the world’s largest satellite IoT network through its vehicle tracking system solution.
The pivot to new revenue streams is already under way. Tejas has partnered with Japan’s Rakuten Symphony and NEC Corporation to push deeper into international markets, with several Open Radio Access Network trials ongoing, one of which concluded recently. The company is also diversifying across equipment categories and geographies to sustain momentum as the BSNL chapter closes.
To prosecute that strategy, Roy needs a full team around him. Preetham Uthaiah has been appointed chief operating officer, moving up from his current role as vice president of product management for wireless products at Tejas Networks. Uthaiah brings nearly 30 years of global experience spanning engineering, product management, and business development across India and the United States. Before joining Tejas Networks, he served as executive vice president of product management, marketing, and strategy at Saankhya Labs, and held senior roles at Tech Mahindra on both sides of the Atlantic. He holds an MBA from Arizona State University and a degree in electronics and communications from Karnatak University.
On the finance front, AVS Prasad has been approved as chief financial officer, effective May 16, 2026, succeeding Sumit Dhingra, who has resigned. Prasad, currently serving as finance controller at Tejas Networks, brings over 27 years of experience within the Tata Group across telecom, aerostructures, and defence. A company secretary and cost and management accountant by training, he has spent more than 15 years in senior finance roles including CFO and financial controller positions, with expertise spanning corporate finance, treasury management, regulatory compliance, internal audit, and governance.
New chief executive, new chief operating officer, new chief financial officer — all installed in a single move, at a moment when the company’s largest revenue source is drying up and the next chapter remains unwritten. Tejas Networks has placed its bets. Now it has to deliver.
