By Nurat Uthman
Airtel Africa, a telecommunications and mobile money services provider, says it has appointed Dinesh Balsingh as the new Chief Executive Officer of Airtel Nigeria .
Airtel Africa, Chief Executive Officer, Sunil Taldar in a statement on Tuesday said the appointment was effective on Nov. 1, 2024.
He noted that with the appointment, Balsingh had also become a member of the Executive Council for the Airtel Africa Group.
Taldar said Balsingh was taking over from Carl Cruz, who returned to his home country, the Philippines, at the end of October.
According to him, Balsingh has extensive experience across the telecommunications industry and comes back to Nigeria, after his serving out his appointment as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Airtel Tanzania in 2022.
“Prior to his move to Tanzania, he served as the Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) at Airtel Nigeria and therefore, brings with him considerable experience of the Nigerian telecommunications market.
“Balsingh’s career in the telecommunications industry spans over 24 years, having began his career in 2000 with Hutchison Essar, before moving to Airtel India as a marketing director in 2006 and then Tata Docomo in 2011.
“Balsingh joined Airtel Nigeria as marketing director in 2013, before taking over as CCO in 2018, ” he said.
Taldar said that during his tenure at Airtel Tanzania, Balsingh led the business to achieve record growth through intelligent pricing, product enhancements and disciplined execution of projects, resulting in strong Revenue Market Share (RMS) gains in the highly competitive market.
“Balsingh’s deep telecommunications experience and strong operational execution, combined with his knowledge of the Nigerian market, will be instrumental in further supporting our corporate purpose of transforming lives across Nigeria, “Taldar said.
He added that Balsingh had a masters in business administration from Thiagarajar School of Management.
