Indian mobile operator Sistema Shyam Teleservices has named Ilya Kosolapov as its new CFO as it prepares to merge with larger player Reliance Communications. Kosolapov is a former head of corporate finance at Sigezha, another Sistema subsidiary, and head of corporate debt at the Sistema Group.
Indian mobile operator Sistema Shyam Teleservices (SSTL) has named Ilya Kosolapov as its new CFO as it prepares to merge with larger player Reliance Communications (NSE:RCOM).
Kosolapov joins SSTL, which trades as MTS India, from pulp and paper holding Segezha, where he was head of corporate finance, SSTL said in a statement. Segezha is also part of the Russian Sistema Group.
Before this, Kosolapov, who holds a master’s degree in finance from the Russian Economic University, was head of corporate debt at Sistema.
According to his LinkedIn profile, he previously worked for the Moscow-based conglomerate’s Russian telco, MTS, as head of cash and risk assessment within the treasury department between April 2005 and January 2008, and as M&A projects director within the corporate finance department between January 2008 and October 2008.
Kosolapov replaces Sergey Savchenko as CFO at STTL. Savchenko was promoted to CEO in September after Dmitry Shukov resigned. Shukov was cited in local media at the time as saying he planned to return to Moscow to be with his family before taking on a new role in another country.
In June, Sistema announced that it was in exclusive talks to merge SSTL with billionaire Anil Ambani’s RCom, India’s fourth-largest cellco. SSTL has some 10 million customers, while RCom has more than 100 million. They trail market leaders Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular.
Indian mobile operators are preparing themselves for the impending launch of Reliance Jio Infocomm, owned by Anil Ambani’s brother and sometime rival Mukesh. Jio has begun beta-testing its 4G network and, according to local media, is expected to begin a phased launch in late December.
Credit Suisse analysts said in a report based on a review of Jio’s network in and around Mumbai that it is “turning out to be as strong a threat to incumbents as we had feared”.
The analysts said they envisage the market being surprised negatively on local telco stocks, adding that they would remain “cautious” about the sector.