Rahul Vatts, Group Chief Regulatory Officer and Director, Corporate Affairs, Bharti Airtel

Telecom service providers (TSPs) industry body, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) on Thursday has appointed Rahul Vatts, Group Chief Regulatory Officer and Director, Corporate Affairs, Bharti Airtel as Chairperson and Ravi P Gandhi, Chief Regulatory Officer, Reliance Jio Infocomm as Vice-Chairperson for 2026-27.

The decision was made in its annual general body meeting for the financial year 2025–26, which brought together COAI members to review key developments in the sector, deliberate on emerging priorities and discuss the roadmap for strengthening India’s digital communications ecosystem.

Experienced Members

Vatts is a telecom industry veteran with 29 years of experience across telecom and broadcasting licensing, economic regulation, spectrum management and regulatory litigation.

As Chief Regulatory Officer of Bharti Airtel, he leads the company’s government relations, policy and regulatory engagements across mobility, broadband, DTH, data centres, submarine cables, international subsidiaries and digital businesses.

Similarly, Gandhi has over three decades of experience in public policy, telecom regulation and network operations. He has previously served as Chief Regulatory Officer at Bharti Airtel and, as an officer of the Indian Telecom Services, held key positions in the Department of Telecommunications.

“India’s telecom sector is at a critical stage of transformation, with digital communications infrastructure increasingly serving as the foundation of the country’s digital economy. As technologies such as AI, 5G Advanced, satellite communications and future 6G systems evolve, the sector will play an even greater role in enabling innovation, inclusion and economic growth,” S P Kochhar, Director General, COAI, said.

Published on June 18, 2026