GSMA confers “Lifetime Achievement” award on Sunil Bharti Mittal

NEW DELHI: London-based telecommunications industry association GSMA has conferred the “Lifetime Achievement” award on Sunil Bharti Mittal, founder and chairman, Bharti Enterprises, for his role in transforming the global telecom landscape and expanding connectivity across operators, governments, businesses and consumers worldwide, it said in a statement Monday.

Global Systems for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA), which counts over 1000 mobile operators and businesses across the global telecom ecosystem as its members, conferred the award to the Bharti honcho at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

The industry body credited Mittal with building Bharti Airtel into one of the world’s leading mobile operators with operations across India and Africa, ranking among the top three globally and serving over half a billion customers.


Mittal served as Chairman of the GSMA from 2017 to 2018. Mittal was previously honoured with the GSMA Chairman’s Award in 2008 and again in 2016, and was felicitated at MWC Barcelona in February 2018 for his chairmanship.

“I am deeply honoured to receive this recognition and sincerely thank the GSMA for this award. I accept it not only as a personal milestone, but as a tribute to India’s telecom journey, the collective spirit of Bharti, and the rise of Indian telecom companies on the global stage,” Mittal said in a statement.

GSMA said the Lifetime Achievement Award is a rare honour, bestowed only on select individuals whose leadership and innovation have left an enduring mark on the industry.