Broadband
Reliance’s Broadband Bharat ready to roll
MUMBAI: “If you want to dream, dare to dream big.” Thus Reliance Industries’ chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani, paraphrasing his father Dhirubhai, described the plans he had for the rollout of Reliance Infocomm’s broadband initiative.
Called Broadband Bharat, it is almost ready to roll out across 1,100 towns and cities and covers a total of 80,000 kms of optic fibre cable. The only remaining link in the chain is the last mile, that is the customer. Speaking earlier in another session, Reliance Infocomm president Prakash Bajpai had said that 2,00,000 buildings would be connected within the next
few weeks.
This is the scale that Reliance has envisioned. It has also covered the international gateway by the recent acquisition of the US based Flag Telecom, said Ambani, in his keynote address at the valedictory session of Ficci Frames 2004 on Wednesday. This will link up Reliance’s national network to four continents through 75,000 kms of under sea cable.
“Digital technology will become as ubiquitous as electricity,” Ambani said, giving an idea of the scale of the project. Ambani stressed that the broadband project would not eliminate television, movies or any of the present entertainment platforms but would only enhance the media experience. The future, according to Ambani, is interactive television, electronic newspapers, music delivery. The list goes on.
The potential is huge, said Ambani, who sees the revenues from the Indian media and entertainment industry alone growing from $ two billion in aggregate terms to $ 200 billion in the next 20 years. “I believe India is the land of a billion opportunities,” just about sums up Ambani’s vision for Reliance’s Broadband Bharat.
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.
