Essar appoints Donald Rae as CEO of telecom biz

MUMBAI: The Essar Group has appointed Donald Rae as the CEO of its telecom business. Mr Rae joins Essar from Smart Communications, a leading mobile operator in Philippines.

“Vikash Saraf, the present CEO of Essar Telecommunications, will take up a wider role at Essar Global (EGL),” the group said in a statement in Mumbai on Wednesday.

Mr Saraf is also a director on the board of Vodafone Essar, India’s second-largest GSM operator in which the Ruias of the Essar group have a 33% stake.

The Ruias also have a 9.9% stake in BPL Mobile, which offers cellular services in the Mumbai circle. The group’s other telecom interests include its retail venture — Essar Telecom Retail and the infrastructure arm — Essar Telecom and Tower Infrastructure.

Mr Rae was earlier the chief foreign advisor at Smart and is credited with helping develop mobile commerce and other new services for the telco. He played a key advisory role in growing the company’s GSM business, developing Smart’s information technology platforms and its award-winning mobile commerce services. He also set up and expanded the company’s wireless broadband and satellite communications services.

Prior to joining Smart in 1999, Mr Rae was the chief operating officer of Malaysian company Time Telecommunications and a partner with management consulting group Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu in Hong Kong.

EGL is present across sectors including steel, energy, power, communication, shipping and logistics and construction. EGL, through its six sectoral holding companies, has an asset base of over $10 billion and employs 20,000 people world-wide.