Idea Cellular's Himanshu Kampania becomes COAI chairman

GSM industry body COAI has elected Idea Cellular MD Himanshu Kapania as its Chairman and Gopal Vittal, Joint Managing Director and CEO (India and South Asia) of Bharti Airtel as the Vice-Chairman.
The Cellular Operators Association of India held its annual general meeting yesterday and elected the new leadership as well as designated its executive council for the new term, it said in a statement.
Vodafone India MD and CEO Marten Pieters is the outgoing Chairman of the association.
Kapania has been the Managing Director of Idea Cellular since April 2011.
"He spearheaded Idea Cellular Ltd. To be one of top 3 telecom players and also serves on the board of Aditya Birla Management Corporation Pvt. Ltd. (ABMCPL), the strategic advisory unit of the USD 40 billion Aditya Birla Group," COAI said.

Vittal has an experience of 25 years in senior leadership positions in fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) and telecom industries.
COAI Director General Rajan S Mathews said Pieters provided bold, courageous and excellent leadership through one of the most challenging periods for the Indian telecom sector during his term.
COAI represents leading telecom operators including Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, Reliance Jio as well as telecom equipment manufacturers and other communication services and product companies in India.