Vodafone India Names Naveen Chopra as Chief Operating Officer

Chopra, currently Director - Vodafone Business Services (VBS), will succeed Sunil Sood, who will be the MD and CEO of the company effective April 1.

Vodafone had earlier said that Sood would replace Marten Pieters as the head of the company.

Pieters, who has been its Chief Executive since 2009, is the longest serving Chief Executive Officer of a telecom firm in the country. "The longest-serving Chief Executive of an Indian telecommunications company, he has led Vodafone India's participation in all spectrum auctions since 2009. Pieters was appointed as the Chairman of the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) in 2014," a statement last month had detailed.

"Naveen has, over the last five years, ably led the VBS into significant growth and led our expansion into new customer and product segments, to contribute substantially to Vodafone India's business success," the company said in a statement.

Chopra joined Vodafone in 2004 as Vice President - Corporate Marketing, and over the last 10 years, has done stints as CMO and subsequently, has led Mumbai and Rajasthan circles as Business Head, before joining the Executive Committee as the Director - VBS.

Chopra's successor will be announced in due course of time, the company added.

Vodafone had in late-January announced Pieters would be stepping down from the CEO position, but would remain on the Board of Vodafone India in a non-executive capacity. Sood, the new MD and CEO, had joined Vodafone India's predecessor business, Hutch, in 2000 and has held roles leading the company's operations in Gujarat, Kolkata and Chennai.

Written with inputs from PTI