Gopal Vittal, executive vice-chairman of Bharti Airtel, has been re-elected chair of the GSMA Board for a second term, extending his leadership of the global mobile industry body through December 2028.
The GSMA Board has elected Vittal to lead the organisation during its 2027-2028 Board term. He has served on the board for 10 years and has been its chair since 2025. The GSMA represents mobile network operators and companies across the wider mobile ecosystem.
The board also elected Vodafone Group Chief Executive Officer Margherita Della Valle as co-deputy chair. MTN Group President and Chief Executive Officer Ralph Mupita was re-elected to the same position. Mupita has served as a GSMA deputy chair since April 2025.
Vittal said the telecom industry was entering a new phase shaped by advanced networks, artificial intelligence and open digital platforms. He identified security as the industry’s foremost priority, referring to the need to protect nations from increasing threats, safeguard customers from scams and maintain the financial sustainability of telecom operators.
“As an industry, we are entering a new era in which advanced networks, AI and open digital platforms can create significant economic and societal value,” Vittal said in a statement following his re-election. He added that the sector needed to secure nations, customers and the industry itself so that operators could continue investing in technology and infrastructure.
The priorities identified by Vittal place telecom network expansion alongside the security of digital services and the economic viability of operators. Mobile networks increasingly support everyday services, business operations and digital platforms, while telecom companies remain responsible for financing and maintaining the infrastructure on which those services depend.
At Bharti Airtel, Vittal oversees the company and its subsidiaries, including group strategy and synergies across digital technology, network strategy, procurement and talent. He is also non-executive chair of Airtel Africa and Airtel Payments Bank, and serves as a non-executive director on the BT Group Board.
According to the company’s statement, Airtel has expanded across mobile, home broadband, business-to-business services and digital offerings during Vittal’s leadership. The company said Airtel achieved its highest-ever revenue market share in India’s competitive telecom market.
Mupita has led MTN Group as president and chief executive officer since September 2020, after previously serving as its group chief financial officer. He is a commissioner on the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development and a founding commissioner of the International Telecommunication Union’s AI for Good Global Commission. At MTN, he is leading the company’s Ambition 2030 strategy, which focuses on connectivity, financial technology and digital infrastructure opportunities across Africa.
Della Valle has been Vodafone Group chief executive officer since January 2023. She previously served as the company’s group chief financial officer from 2018 and has led its transformation programme focused on simplifying and strengthening the business.
Vittal said the experience and geographical reach of the two deputy chairs would support the GSMA’s work during the new board term. The leadership team will serve through December 2028, with security, advanced networks, artificial intelligence, open digital platforms and continued infrastructure investment forming the priorities identified in the announcement.
