MTS India (Sistema Shyam TeleServices) today announced that it hired top executives from its rivals Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications.

Umesh Durve, who worked with Bharti Airtel earlier, will be the chief operating officer of Karnataka circle.

Siraj Abbasi, who worked with Reliance Communications, will take charge of the MTS India’s business in Uttar Pradesh West circle.

Both Siraj Abbasi and  Umesh Durve will report to Dmitry Shukov, CEO, MTS India.

MTS India CEO Dmitry Shukov said: “Umesh and Siraj have over two decades of industry experience and have been associated with leading telecom companies in the past. Circle teams in Karnataka and UP West circles would benefit from their leadership skills and vast knowledge of the industry.”

Prior to joining MTS India, Umesh associated with Bharti Airtel as vice president of Market Operations.

Siraj’s last assignment was with Reliance Communications, Lucknow as circle business head, UP – East where he was driving the data revenues for his region and was responsible for setting up exclusive distributor network for EVDO devices.