Aircel Executive: Heads Of Operations, Technology Divisions Have Quit

NEW DELHI -Aircel Ltd.'s operations division head Gurdeep Singh and technology chief Mallikarjun Rao have quit, an executive said Tuesday, but didn't give any reasons for their move out of India's sixth-largest telecommunications company by number of customers. Jean Pascal, operating chief at Aircel's Malaysian parent Maxis Communications Berhad, will now head the company's operations division, while Sudhir Mathur, Aircel's finance chief, will take over the additional charges of overseeing the networking arm, the executive asking not to be named. Both will report to Sandip Das, the group chief executive of Maxis Bhd [6012.KU] and also a director of Aircel. Maxis Communications owns 74% of Aircel, with the balance held by India's Sindya Securities and Investments Pvt. Ltd. Aircel had about 61 million users at November end, giving it a market share of 6.89% in the country. The management changes at Aircel come at a time when intense competition and rising debt have hurt revenue and profits of the local telecom industry, thus hampering expansion plans, say analysts. Aircel itself took on a lot of debt to fund payments for third-generation and broadband wireless bandwidth. Operating pressures had prompted the company to restructure its management by creating separate operations and networking divisions in late 2011. On Tuesday, the Economic Times newspaper reported that Singh and Rao had quit over the complex reporting structure within the company. The Aircel executive declined comment on the matter, while Singh and Rao weren't reachable on phone for comment. The telecom industry in India, the world's second largest but fastest-growing telecom market, currently is under a cloud over alleged irregularities in a 2008 bandwidth auction with a former telecom minister in jail. Aircel itself is embroiled over an ownership controversy. India's federal investigation agency has alleged the company's former founder, C. Sivasankaran, was forced to sell out to the current owners at the instance of a former telecom minister, Dayanidhi Maran. Maran then favored Aircel in the grant of licenses in exchange for Maxis investing in Sun Direct TV Pvt. Ltd., a Maran family-owned company, the Central Bureau of Investigation has alleged. Maran had denied any wrongdoing. Sivasankaran, Maxis and Sun Direct TV weren't immediately reachable for comment.