Syed Safawi, wireless business head of Reliance Communications, will soon be stepping down from the position.
“The contract of Syed Safawi, president (wireless), has ended in the normal course and the same is not being renewed,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday.
Safawi confirmed the news, saying he had decided to quit. He would take a break and decide his future course. (Sources in the company said he was going on a sabbatical for the next two to three months.)
RCom said all its heads would now report to Shamik Das, the joint president and chief operating officer. Das, who was earlier working with STel, joined the company in November last year. He was then supposed to report to Safawi.
RCom also said it was merging all its geographical units, and this change was part of the restructuring exercise it undertook last year. In September 2011, it discontinued tri-regional head structure across 2G, 3G and CDMA, and appointed COO. “This will enable a leaner and flatter organisation, and consolidate the backend operations to deliver higher value to customers,” RCom said in a statement.
Safawi has been working with the company for four years, and has been chief executive officer and president of the national mobility business.
He started in the telecom sector after he joined Bharti Airtel. He served as executive director of the country’s largest telecom company. At Bharti, he was responsible for the telecom business in multiple circles like Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.
Prior to his stint in Bharti, he spent 11 years in Coca-Cola and was involved in creating and driving a number of marketing initiatives, both in India and abroad.
Safawi is an alumni of the Institute of Rural Management Anand. After that, he added an Ivy League educational qualification, with a management diploma from Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, USA.
