Anil Pande has over 20 years of experience in the internet and fibre optic cable industry. He started his career with Usha Shriram and later moved to Siemens Austria, where he served as head of the company’s telecom cable manufacturing operations in India for over 10 years. He later co-founded and managed Consilnet, an internet start-up based in San Jose, USA.

Pande identifies his five-year stint at Consilnet as the most exciting period of his career. The company’s project to deploy Wi-Fi in Hotel Holiday Inn, Singapore, in 2001 was one of his most memorable assignments. The experience he gained in an entrepreneurial role has helped him develop skills to take on challenging assignments, he believes.

Pande is currently heading Dura-Line’s telecom business as senior vice-president, telecom business. He joined Dura-Line in 2006 when the company’s operations were concentrated in India and a few SAARC countries. Since then, the company has expanded its international business significantly in Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. In his present role, Pande is working to expand the company’s presence in countries like Myanmar, Vietnam, Ghana, Jordan, Indonesia, the Philippines and Qatar, where the FTTH market is still at a nascent stage. In these markets, he is working towards creating awareness amongst traditional companies on new techniques of deploying fibre.

An MBA in marketing from the Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University, Pande is an active member of the FTTH Council (Asia-Pacific), having served on the board of directors and as vice-president of the council. Talking about the current status of the FTTH market, Pande says, “The adoption of fibre in India has been much slower as compared to that witnessed globally. Even in small countries like Ghana, there is a lot of excitement regarding fibre optics, but this has not been the case in India.” He is, however, optimistic about the adoption of fibre going forward, in light of the recent improvement in the country’s policy environment.

Pande is passionate about technology and believes in building a knowledge economy. According to him, government iniatives like the Smart Cities project have the potential to benefit people’s lives immensely.