Airtel appoints Sunil Taldar as CEO, Director of Digital TV arm

Telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Monday announced top level changes by appointing Sunil Taldar as CEO & Director of its DTH arm — Airtel Digital TV — and moving incumbent Shashi Arora as MD & CEO, Airtel Payments Bank.

Taldar will be a member of the Airtel Management Board and report to Gopal Vittal, MD & CEO (India & South Asia), Bharti Airtel, said a statement.

He takes over from Arora who, after a stint of around five years as CEO – DTH, has moved as MD & CEO, Airtel Payments Bank.

In his new role, Taldar will be responsible for driving growth and innovation for Airtel Digital TV, which is a key growth driver within the company’s B2C portfolio, it added.

Commenting on the development, Vittal said: “We are pleased to have Sunil as part of our leadership team and hope that his rich experience across consumer-facing categories will add value to our DTH portfolio.”

Prior to this, Taldar, who has an experience of over 28 years in the FMCG sector, had worked with Mondelez where he held several senior leadership positions across multiple geographies, including India, China, and Singapore across sales, marketing, media and general management.

In his previous role, Taldar was Country Head – Indonesia, for Mondelez.

Airtel Digital TV had over 12.4 million customers at the end of the quarter ended September 2016.