Power100
Who are the 100 most powerful executives in the telecoms industry?
Global Telecoms Business has announced the GTB Power 100 of 2012, our list of the 100 most powerful and influential people in the industry. The selection was made from nominations from the readers of Global Telecoms Business.
Introduction: Inspiring individuals who are driving change
I would like to congratulate Global Telecoms Business on the fifth edition of the Power 100. As an enabler to the telecoms industry I feel extremely privileged to have been asked to write the foreword to this very prestigious issue of the GTB Power 100, which celebrates the leaders who are shaping the future of the industry.
It is an honour to be associated with the inspiring individuals who are driving change in people’s lives today across industries, geographies and societies.
The telecoms industry is at the centre of the digital world which, over the past decade, has dramatically transformed the way we work, interact and play. The rate of change has been immense. I can only begin to imagine the impact we will see in the years to come.
These transformations are being triggered by a consumer desire to enrich their lives. In response to this, innovative business models and new partnerships are emerging across diverse and somewhat unconnected industries, creating a plethora of new services.
Telecoms/media companies are responding to this shift by evolving from their traditional role of connectivity or content providers, to become digital lifestyle enablers.
However, the investments across the value chain are primarily concentrated in the services and applications areas — while network infrastructure is often neglected, although still expected to deliver.
As financial pressure on equipment providers mounts, research and development budgets are being reduced in real terms, which I believe is stifling network innovation. The industry must acknowledge this gap and work closely to invest in futuristic networks — or digital highways — that can handle huge data traffic and enable the truly digital lifestyle of the future.
I would like to congratulate the Top 100 executives and wish them all the best for a great year ahead.
Jeff Heenan Jalil
Vice president and head of telecom equipment vertical
Wipro Technologies
Editor’s note
We started the Global Telecoms Business Power 100 to mark our hundredth print edition in September-October 2008 — and since then it has been an annual feature which commands the attention of our readers in the months leading up to publication and when we issue our list at the end of each September.
This year we received more nominations, and more diverse nominations, than ever before and it was a challenge to select 100 and to sort them into an order. Decisions were based on what was said in the nominations we received about people’s achievements during the past year.
That’s one of the main reasons why this year’s list is very different from last year’s — and, indeed, from all the previous years’ lists. This is a fast-moving industry and each year a different set of executives do most to drive it forward.
We judged Dan Mead to have well deserved his first place for 2012. His and Verizon Wireless’s work to build the world’s biggest LTE network so far have turned this technology into what is likely to be — spectrum issues aside — the world’s first global mobile system.
Alan Burkitt-Gray, Editor
aburkitt@euromoneyplc.com, tel +44 20 7779 8518 or +1 212 224 3880
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The Global Telecoms Business Power 100 for 2012 is published here:
Numbers 1-25
Numbers 26-50
Numbers 51-75
Numbers 76-100
You can download a PDF of the whole section, as printed in the September-October issue, from here:
http://www.globaltelecomsbusiness.com/pdf/GTBSepOct12Power100NEW.pdf (PDF, 4.2meg)