♦ Gopal Vittal was appointed as the acting chair of the Global System of Mobile Communication (GSMA) board on 3 February 2025.

♦ He was already part of the GSMA as the Deputy Chair, till now. Gopal Vittal is also Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Bharti Airtel. 

♦ The development comes following the resignation of José Maria Álvares-Pallete, Chairman and CEO of Telefónica, from the Association. 

♦ GSMA is a not-for-profit global telecom association with over 1,100 companies from the ecosystem across the world. These include telecom service providers, handset and device makers, software companies, equipment providers and Internet companies, as well as organisations in adjacent industry sectors.

♦ Gopal was recently re-elected as the Deputy Chair of the GSMA board. He has also served the board as a key member for the term 2019-2020.