Airtel's Gopal Vittal re-elected GSMA chair until 2028

Bharti Airtel’s Executive Vice Chairman Gopal Vittal, on Monday, was re-elected chair of the GSMA Board of Directors for the 2027-28 term, extending his leadership of the global mobile industry body until December 2028.

The GSMA is a global organisation representing mobile operators and companies across the broader mobile ecosystem, working on industry policy, technology standards and connectivity-related initiatives.

Vittal, who has served on the GSMA board for 10 years and as chair since 2025, has been re-elected for a second term. The board also elected Vodafone Group chief executive Margherita Della Valle as co-deputy chair, alongside MTN Group chief executive Ralph Mupita, who has been re-elected to the position.


“Our top priority is security. Securing nations given the increased threats today, securing customers given the rising menace of scams and securing the industry by making it sustainable so it can continue to make forward-leaning investments in technology and build the best infrastructure in all parts of the world,” Vittal said.

Vittal’s next term is expected to build on the industry body’s focus on trust and security. During his tenure, he has led the GSMA Board in setting up a global shared forum, called the Scam Use Case Library, to use artificial intelligence to prevent scams and fraud by enabling intelligence-sharing across markets and the mobile ecosystem.

Vittal is also non-executive chair of Airtel Africa and Airtel Payments Bank, and a non-executive director on the BT Group board.

Mupita has been MTN Group’s president and chief executive since September 2020, while Della Valle became Vodafone Group chief executive in January 2023, after serving as its group chief financial officer.