Nokia Corporation has appointed former Customer Team Head Sandeep Girotra as the Head of India in view of its systematic merger with Alcatel-Lucent. Girotra is currently the Vice President and Head of India at Nokia Networks.
Girotra will take over his new responsibilities after Nokia finalises on the public exchange, the offer it laid out to Alcatel-Lucent. Nokia acquired Alcatel-Lucent in April this year in a deal that is stipulated to be worth $16.6 billion. Subsequently, Nokia put forth its public exchange offer to the French company Alcatel-Lucent on April 15.
One of Girotra’s major role would be be to manage customer operations in India following the merger. Nokia’ new Head of India has also been given the responsibility of developing key segments of quality and innovation.
Sandeep Girotra would become the Head of India as part of the planned combination of Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent, after and subject to the successful closing of the public exchange offer for Alcatel-Lucent securities announced on April 15, 2015,
stated Nokia.
Girotra has been associated with Nokia Networks for over two decades now, after having joined the company in 1996. He has held different positions in the company and has been donning key roles within the company from 2011. He was named as Head of Sales for Business Solution Networks in 2010. Once he takes over his new role, Girotra will be working closely with Ashish Chowdhary, who is the Chief Customer Operations Officer.
Confirming the announcement Chowdhary stated,
We are delighted to announce the appointment of Sandeep Girotra as designated Head of India. He brings valuable regional experience and expertise, and would be a great asset to the management team.
Sandeep Girotra has also served as the head of customer team at Idea Cellular within Nokia Siemens Networks from 2007 to 2009.
In April this year, Finland based Nokia put rumours aside and confirmed its acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent. The two companies are still in the process of finalising their agreement, but what’s been confirmed is that Alcatel-Lucent CTO Marcus Weldon will carry on with his role and take the position of CTO at Nokia after the deal is completed.
Currently Weldon is the president of Bell Labs, and whether he will continue to direct the company after taking over as CTO at Nokia remains to be seen. Nokia’s current CEO Rajeev Suri, will head the combined firm.
Weldon took over as CTO at Alcatel-Lucent in 2009 and is praised largely for the slew of developments seen in Alcatel-Lucent’s R and D department.
