Vodafone Idea rejigs top management; Avneesh Khosla new marketing chief :-livemint . Updated: 08 Dec 2020, 04:59 PM IST-Ishita Guha

 

• Kavita Nair, who led the recent rebranding exercise at Vodafone Idea that is grappling with shrinking customer base and mounting debt, has resigned

NEW DELHI: Vodafone Idea Ltd (Vi) has effected a string of changes at the top executive level, with marketing director Avneesh Khosla promoted as the chief marketing officer, said a person aware of the development.

The Birla group company’s chief digital transformation and brand officer, Kavita Nair, has resigned. Nair led the recent rebranding exercise at the telco that is grappling with shrinking customer base and mounting debt.

Nair took charge as the telco's brand officer in August 2018. Prior to this, she was associate director—commercial operations for Vodafone India Ltd, which was merged with Idea Cellular Ltd in the same month.

In October, the telecom company’s chief technology officer (CTO) Vishant Vora resigned after a decade-long stint. He was replaced by Jagbir Singh, who worked with rivals Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd and Bharti Airtel Ltd.

In September, the two brands under Vodafone Idea—Vodafone and Idea—were integrated to Vi, which so far operated independently and had separate advertising campaigns. Idea has been a mass rural-focused brand, whereas Vodafone has a premium urban appeal.

Earlier this year, Vodafone Idea announced a shift of its premium postpaid customer base to brand Vodafone from Idea as the management accepted that the latter did not have the brand value to charge a premium.

The rebranding decision was announced amid the company’s plans to raise ₹25,000 crore in a combination of debt and equity, even as it continues to lose millions of subscribers every month. In September, Vi lost customers for the eleventh straight month.

According to Fitch Ratings, Vodafone Idea could lose 50-70 million subscribers in the next one year, after shedding 155 million customers in the past nine quarters.

The telco owes more than ₹50,000 crore to the government in back fees. Analysts believe the proposed fundraising will allow Vodafone Idea to sustain for a maximum of two years.