Though Airtel is the world’s number three telco user base, it just don’t get how some markets work and it keeps sending ”ambassadors”from home or nearby markets to help turn its fortunes around  instead of just putting its customers in charge like having a selfcare service to allow me replace my own  SIM.

The Delhi-based firm is reluctant to push its own flawless mobile money platform but has been hugely despised for its fat kid entitlement mentally threatening to pull out of Kenya over what it terms unfair competition from Safaricom but analysts blame it for its own rigid and mean customer acquisition strategies.

The telco maybe be trying to solve some of these problems by its December appointment of Rajeev Sethi as the Chief Commercial Officer for its Africa operations reporting to Raghunath Mandava, MD & CEO, Airtel Africa. Mandava was appointed from India a few months ago.

Rajeev brings with him over 21 years of diverse experience across several sectors such as Telecom, IT, Paints and Petroleum. Till recently, Rajeev was at the Telenor group where he served for more than 7 years. In his last assignment, he worked as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Grameen Phone, the largest operator in Bangladesh.

The firm says Rajeev will be responsible for the formulation and implementation of customer-centric commercial strategies across all the 15 African countries where Airtel operates; especially across Consumer and Enterprise Businesses covering products and pricing, distribution, brand and customer experience.

Announcing his appointment, Raghunath Mandava said, “We are delighted to welcome Rajeev to Airtel Africa team. With his vast experience across a range of developing markets, Rajeev will contribute immensely in accelerating our growth journey. I am confident that Rajeev will take the Airtel brand to greater heights”.