COAI reelects Himanshu Kapania and Marten Pieters

Himanshu Kapania, managing director, Idea Cellular was re-elected as the chairman of cellular operators association of India (COAI) for the year 2013-14.

Marten Pieters, managing director & CEO, Vodafone India was also re-elected as the vice chairman for the same period at the annual general body meeting (AGM) of COAI.

The chairman and vice chairman were elected unanimously by the AGM.

Kapania in his address as the chairman COAI said, "India is inching towards the landmark figure of one billion mobile subscriptions by the year 2014. At the end of 2012, the India mobile subscriber base stood at 865 million and the country contributed over 13 percent of the global subscription base. In spite of its overweight, India is still a part of the unfinished growth story in global mobile telephony. But before we get too euphoric about our weight in the global telecom scene, let me also share with you that Indian telecom closed calendar year 2012 with revenues of $27 billion, and this is a meager 2.3 percent of the estimated global telecom revenue of $1.16 trillion."

Rajan S Mathews, director general, COAI, extended his heartfelt gratitude to Himanshu Kapania, for the bold, courageous and excellent leadership provided by him through one of the most challenging periods in the history of Indian telecoms since the last several years. He congratulated both the chairman and the vice chairman and looked forward to their leadership to continue to guide and lead the industry to a brighter future.