Pankaj Gandhi has about 20 years of work experience in the telecommunications industry. He has worked with organisations such as Andrew Solutions, Andrew Corporation, Nokia Siemens Networks India, BT, Airwide Solutions and Siemens. He has expertise in business strategy, solution mapping and account management. At present, Gandhi is leading CommScope’s customer-facing sales activities for its wireless business in India and the SAARC region. The company offers products such as base station antenna solutions for long term evolution networks and sentinel microwave antennas, which help operators address the challenges associated with coverage and capacity.

Providing an insight into the fast-evolving Indian telecom landscape, Gandhi says, “With a cumulative growth rate of over 80 per cent year on year, data has emerged as the key growth driver for the telecom industry. With the exponential increase in demand for data services over the past few years, India has achieved technology parity with other global telecom markets. Given the fast pace of high speed network roll-out by operators, the product requirements of the industry are moving well ahead of the global product portfolio of telecom solution providers.”

Over the years, Gandhi has had the opportunity to work on a number of challenging assignments. However, he recalls the experience of leading CommScope’s business during 2011-12 as particularly challenging. This was the time when, owing to regulatory uncertainty, no new investment was forthcoming from operators and the industry as a whole witnessed low profitability. “A number of businesses, including ours, was under pressure. Companies were strapped for business and it was a fight for survival. However, CommScope utilised this period to further finetune its business strategy and improve its manufacturing set-up in Goa, which helped us cope with higher demand for products when the industry witnessed a turnaround in mid-2013,” he says.

As a leader, Gandhi believes in transparency and open-ended communication as they help build trust. He describes himself as a detailed-oriented person with a penchant for taking things to their logical conclusion; he does not like keeping things open-ended.

Time away from work is usually spent with his children and wife. Gandhi loves travelling, his all-time favourite destination being Munich, which he enjoys as much for its metropolitan flavour as for its rich cultural heritage.