GSMA appoints ex-Trai officer as public policy head for India

Global telecom industry body GSMA today announced appointment of former Trai officer Manoj Misra as senior public policy director for India.
"Misra brings to GSMA a combination of deep market knowledge and broad experience in the telecommunication sector, which will be critical as he works with GSMA members to identify opportunities and implement strategies and initiatives that would benefit the local mobile industry," said Alasdair Grant, Head of Asia Pacific, GSMA.
Misra's earlier stint was with Vodafone India, where as general manager and head of regulatory and external affairs, he engaged with government officials and national regulators to lobby and support the telco's commercial activities.

He also undertook relationship building and public affairs work with government and public authorities, a company statement said.
Prior to Vodafone, Misra was deputy advisor (financial analysis) for Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), where he developed cost-based pricing models for telecommunications network services, advised on matters of revenue share and examined issues related to competition.
"His appointment comes at a critical time for the development of public policy in India, and his experience will add depth to the ongoing debate about fundamental industry issues, including the future regulatory regime, treatment of data, improvements to socio-economic development that the industry can make and the cost-efficient deployment of networks," Grant said.

The Department of Telecom has started the process of formulating new telecom policy which aims to look at new horizon for development of the sector over the next five years. The draft of the policy will be soon released for wide public consultation.
Misra holds a Bachelor's degree in Commerce from the University of Lucknow, and is a CA with The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), New Delhi.