Sunil Mittal elected industry body GSMA's chairman for two years

Bharti Airtel's chairman Sunil Mittal has been appointed as the chairman of mobile operators' industry body GSMA for a two-year term. Mittal will hold the chair at the organisation from January 2017 to December 2018. 

GSMA represents about 800 mobile operators worldwide and over 300 companies in the broader telecom sector.

Mittal was elected as the chairman while the industry body elected other new members on the board. 

"As the GSMA Chair, Mittal will oversee the strategic direction of the organisation, which represents nearly 800 of the world’s mobile operators, as well as more than 300 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem," it said in a statement. 

Reacting to his appointment, Mittal said, "I am delighted to be elected as Chairman of the GSMA, and look forward to working closely with the rest of the Board, the GSMA leadership team and our entire membership to address the critical issues facing our industry and our customers.

"In my new global role, I am also excited to support the ongoing mobile broadband revolution in India to boost the Government’s Digital India Program and its vision of broadband access for all,” he said. 

Mittal is the first Indian to be elected as the chair of GSMA. 

In a recent report, London-based GSMA said that India's unique mobile subscribers will go up to one billion by 2020 from the 616 million users in June 2016. The report also projected a spike in the adoption of 4G services in the country, saying the number of 4G connections would grow to 280 million by 2020 from just three million at the end of 2015.