Director General

A man wearing glasses is seated, dressed in a gray suit with a light blue shirt and blue tie. He is looking to his right with hands clasped in front of him. The background is blurred with light gray and white tones.

Vivek Badrinath is Director General of the GSMA and a member of its Board, supporting global membership across the GSMA’s three broad pillars: Connectivity for Good, Industry Services and Solutions, and Outreach.

In his role, Vivek is committed to strengthening and evolving the mobile industry – amplifying its impact, fostering business growth, and collaborating with partners to explore innovative business models.

Before joining the GSMA, Vivek was the CEO and Chairman of the Management Board of Vantage Towers AG, from its creation in 2020 through its IPO in 2021 to its partial sale to Private Equity in 2023. Vantage Towers manages 88,000 telecom towers across eight European countries.

Vivek has extensive experience in the mobile industry, having formed part of the Executive Committee at Vodafone as CEO of Africa Middle East Asia Pacific, overseeing operations in the Vodacom Group, India, Australia, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya and New Zealand. Vivek represented Vodafone at GSMA Board meetings in 2019 and 2020 and chaired the Policy Group at that time.

Prior to this, Vivek was the Deputy Chief Executive at Orange, responsible for innovation, marketing and technology. He also successively held the positions of CTO of Orange Mobile, subsequently Group CTO, and CEO of Orange Business Services.

Between 2000 and 2004 Vivek ran the Indian operations of Thomson. He was a Board member of Nokia from 2014 to 2016, a Board member of Accor Group from 2016 to 2018, and a Board member of ATOS from 2019 to 2023.

Vivek holds a degree in applied mathematics and telecommunications engineering and is a recipient of the French Legion of Honor and of the National Order of Merit.