Telecom network operators Aircel, Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Tata Teleservices, Telenor and Vodafone have received GSMA Chairman’s Award 2016 – for their outstanding achievement in support of the GSMA’s Mobile Connect Initiative.

Felipe VI, King of Spain, presented the award to Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman of Bharti Airtel, who received it on behalf of Indian mobile operators.

GSMA’s Mobile Connect service enables customers to create and manage a universal identity that will securely authenticate them and allow them to safely access mobile and digital services such as e-commerce, banking, health and digital entertainment, as well as e-government portals, via their mobile phones.

The operators collectively covered 85 percent of the Mobile Connect addressable market in India.

Bharti Airtel has already enabled Mobile Connect on its platforms such as the Genie App, which is accessible only to its employees.

Photo caption: (L to R) Jon Fredrik Baksaas, chairman, GSMA, Harmeen Mehta, global CIO, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Group CEO Vittorio Colao, Felipe VI, King of Spain, Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman of Bharti Airtel and Himanshu Kapania, managing director of Idea Cellular.