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Spectrum sharing and trading guidelines on the anvil: Ravi Shankar Prasad
NEW DELHI: The Government is in the process of finalising the spectrum sharing and trading guidelines and is working towards creating an enabling ecosystem to make India a digitally-enabled society, according to Communications & IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.
Addressing a CEOs Roundtable on ‘Investment in the NexGen Digital Infrastructure’ organised by FICCI in collaboration with the Ministry to give an impetus to the recently launched ‘Digital India’ programme, Prasad said in the last 15 months, the government has been able to set a benchmark with its approach in spectrum auction. He added that the private sector has a pivotal role in driving the ‘Digital India’ programme.
Prasad said the government is working towards ‘Digital Inclusion’. In this regard, the process of digitally linking services such as healthcare and postal with community centres in rural areas have already begun. ‘Digital India’ programme needs massive investments, said Prasad and urged the industry to take advantage of the opportunities in the sector.
Prasad said electronic manufacturing has been one of the neglected sectors, which holds great promise. His ministry has been pursuing this vigorously and has been able to take the entire county onboard to drive this initiative. He added that the success of ‘Digital India’ would lead to employment generation, both primary and ancillary, and enhancing digital literacy of the citizens.
While highlighting the initiatives of the government Telecom Secretary Rakesh Garg said harmonization of spectrum had begun and by the yearend this process would be complete for majority of bandwidth. He added that Mobile Number Portability is now possible throughout the country and Bharat Net by way of National Optic Fiber Network, would connect 2.5 lakh gram panchayats in India.
Garg underlined cyber security, local testing labs for cyber security and cloud computing as some of the promising areas for private sector investment. He added that with the expansion of digitization services such as e-health would become a reality where a person from rural area would be able to consult doctors in cities through a virtual platform.
Electronics & Information Technology Additional Secretary Tapan Ray said, “Digital India programme aims to provide a seamless communication between the government and its citizens. For this, the government in its ‘Digital India Week’ launched services like Digital Locker and E-sign to enable every citizen to seek services from the government.”
“India is marred by a digital divide,” said Ray and added that there is a need to bridge this gap with the creation of digital infrastructure. He called upon the industry to invest in digital infrastructure as the sector required massive funding which the government alone could not provide. Highlighting the areas for investments, Ray said that cyber security is one of the biggest challenges for the sector, which provides a huge opportunity to the private sector to explore as continuous vigilance would be needed to safeguard systems against cyberattacks.
FICCI President Jyotsna Suri said public-private partnerships would play a major role in shaping the future of ‘Digital India’ programme, by bringing efficiency along with much needed funding required for sustainability and scalability. She added that industry needs to understand the nature of the opportunities being offered by the government programmes like ‘Digital India’ hence FICCI has initiated the ‘Digital Bharat’ series as a platform for having transformative exchanges and deliberations.
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.
