Jyotindra Thacker to lead RIL's Telecom Venture

Jyotindra Thacker, credited with driving equipment procurement and operations of Reliance Infocomm (now Reliance Communications) during its formative stages, has emerged as the likely choice to head RIL's latest foray into telecom due to his background in IT and ability to procure equipment in a cost-effective way. Reliance Industries (RIL), India's largest private sector company, is trusting its homegrown professionals to lead its Telecom venture. The refinery-to-retail major may choose its information technology systems head Jyotindra Thacker for the top job at newly-acquired broadband services company Infotel Broadband Services, according to sources.

Thacker played a major role in rolling out operations of Reliance Infocomm which built a nationwide fibre optic leading to cheaper tariffs. A person who had worked in Reliance Infocomm said Mukesh Ambani's trusted lieutenant Manoj Modi and Jyotindra Thacker were in charge of negotiations with suppliers like Nortel and Qualcomm. "Of course, they managed to bring down costs from companies like Nortel," said the person. Thacker is also a close relative of Modi.

After bagging broadband spectrum for 22 circles, Infotel is drawing up plans to procure equipment and roll out operations. "This is where Thacker's expertise will come handy," said a telecom industry executive who had worked with him. The company is likely to start with offering wireless broadband services, analysts had told ET. The retail broadband segment has 9 million subscribers now, but despite that only eight people in 1,000 have broadband access.