Vodafone India today said its CEO Marten Pieters has stepped down. The telecom operator’s COO Sunil Sood will be the new CEO.

However, Pieters will continue to remain on the board of Vodafone India in a non-executive capacity.

The Indian telecom operator will be identifying a new COO in place of Sunil Sood.

In February 2009, Vodafone India appointed Marten Pieters as managing director and CEO. Under his leadership, Vodafone India doubled revenues, added more than 100 million customers, increased market share and launched data services used by more than 57 million customers.

Before Vodafone India, Pieters worked with KPN, Celtel and Millicom.

The longest-serving chief executive of an Indian telecommunications company, he has led Vodafone India’s participation in all spectrum auctions since 2009. Pieters was appointed as the Chairman of the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) in 2014.

Sunil Sood, currently Vodafone India COO, is responsible for operations and P&L management together with new business development initiatives including the launch and expansion of mobile commerce activities.

Sood joined Vodafone India’s predecessor business, Hutch, in 2000 and has held roles leading the company’s operations in Gujarat, Kolkata and Chennai.

He had previously worked for Pepsi in a range of Indian and international leadership roles.

Vodafone Group CEO Vittorio Colao said: “Marten will stand down from his role as chief Executive with warm thanks from everyone in Vodafone. I look forward to working with Sunil to build on the successes of a business widely admired in India and internationally.”

Baburajan K
[email protected]