Bharti Enterprises Founder and Chairman, Sunil Bharti Mittal, was honoured by the GSMA for his contributions to the global mobile industry, and for successfully leading its board as Chairman for two years (2017-18).
The GSM Association (GSMA) is a trade body that represents nearly 750 mobile operators across the world, as well as over 350 companies in the mobile ecosystem.
In 2017, Mittal became the first Indian to chair the global telecom industry Board.
He was also a member of the GSMA board from 2005 through 2008.
“The GSMA is critical to our industry, and as chairman of the largest mobile industry body, it was a great opportunity to steer the organisation and play a constructive role in contributing to GSMA’s growing impact on the wider digital ecosystem,” Mittal said in a statement.
Mittal serves on many international bodies and think-tanks. At present, he is the honorary chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).
He is also a member of the International Business Council-WEF, Telecom Board of International Telecommunication Union (ITU), and Commissioner of the Broadband Commission.
He is also on the global board of advisors at the council on Foreign Relations (CFR), a trustee at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and on the Board of Qatar Foundation Endowment.
He served as President of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the premier industry body in India, in 2007-08.
(The writer is in Barcelona at the invitation of Qualcomm.)
rajesh.kurup@thehindu.co.in