Broadband
“We will enhance internet penetration from 300 mil to 500 mil within 2.5 years:” Ravi Shankar Prasad
MUMBAI: India today launched four world class broadband products by Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT). With this, the country has come at par with all other developed countries in the world in respect of quality telecommunication services and effective penetration of advanced broadband based services.
Union Minister for communication and IT, Ravi Shankar Prasad while launching the new products indigenously developed by C-DOT stated that the NDA Government is committed to bring all 2.5 lakh villages under broadband services and enhance internet penetration from 300 million to 500 million within two and half years.
Prasad launched the products in the presence of his Kenyan counterpart, cabinet secretary, ICT in a function organised at C-DOT campus, New Delhi. Prasad further stated that the new products have been launched with an aim to provide an advanced digital infrastructure for ‘Digital India’ Initiative launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He further stated that ‘Digital India’ initiative is bound to bring governance available in the palm of every Indian. It is more for the poor, underprivileged and the marginal people like masons and carpenters etc.
Prasad stressed on the fact that, ‘Digital India’ is a transformational programme and a dream to bring a positive change. The initiative would also go a long way in digital empowerment of the people of India. The initiative launched by Modi would make India developed, globally credible, affluent and would further sync with Make in India and Skill India programme.
Prasad elaborated the importance of skill development and said that there are ample opportunities of earning in mobile maintenance profession as the number of mobile sets are surging day by day.
He also appreciated the role of C-DOT in transforming the telecommunication scenario in the country, especially in the rural India. C-DOT has rendered significant contribution in providing broadband coverage across the nation. He also appreciated the products developed by C-DOT and stated that the long distance Wi-Fi is going to solve the problem of distance, whereas Solar powered Wi-Fi would do away the dependence on the power availability.
He stated that the Next Generation Network technology is quite important for the service providers for converging landline/ mobile/ data network. MTNL and BSNL users are going to be benefitted as they would be able to transform their landline network into the most advanced network. He called upon C-DOT to come out with more advanced innovative products in order to ensure foolproof telecom services, apart from lending a hand in ensuring digital literacy across the country in respective local languages.
The Union Minister further stated that digital connectivity leads to good governance and the C-DOT products are great, innovative and dependable, but he would be happier if the products are savvy and are used by more people.
He exhorted the private sector to go for C-DOT products on large scale as these have been developed after a sustained research and analysis for which the Government invested a substantial amount keeping in view the need to match with the fast changing world.
The next generation land line network would not only revolutionise the basic telephony but would upgrade the entire landline services. He added that presently all gram panchayats are connected with broadband, the government is committed to connect all gram panchayats in the country with broadband.
C-DOT executive director Vipin Tyagi said that its efforts are in the way of taking dream of Digital India further as he delivered his welcome address.
He also stated that the C-DOT has been innovating with an aim to empower the weaker strata of the society and developing indigenous products to facilitate continuous telecom up-gradation. He said that technology is big enabler and broadband is big leveler. Roti, Kapda, Makan and Broadband are the basic needs of the human being.
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.
