Unlike many executives, Manu Khera does not typically face family displeasure for not being home enough. In fact, he manages to strike a relatively healthy work-life balance, save for a few months before a launch.

He says, "There are mixed phases. Sometimes one has to work long hours, especially before a launch or to meet major targets. Then comes a relaxed phase, where there is a gap between projects. This is when one tends to have shorter working hours and can spend more time with family.Both these phases keep fluctuating but the balance is more or less maintained."

His responsibilities as vicepresident of Reliance Communications' (RCOM) mobile broadband business include overseeing the operator's broadband product portfolio, including USB dongles for NetConect Broadband Plus.

The bigger target before him, however, is to take broadband penetration levels in India to global levels. "Broadband penetration is less than 1 per cent in the country, while globally it has touched 20 per cent.The big challenge for us is to pull up these levels to at least 10 per cent in the next five years.As a company, we aim to have a permanent market share in the wireless broadband segment."

To achieve this, he relies on his professional strengths as well as his management style. "I am able to spot a lucrative business opportunity and work hard to achieve set targets. I strongly believe in a hands-on style of management," says Khera.

His management style has evolved from his years of experience. "Prior to joining the telecom sector, I had my own start-up, in which I was involved for nearly 15 years.There is a different kind of joy in building something from scratch," he says.

Nevertheless, he counts launching RCOM's wireline broadband service, back in 2000, as his most memorable assignment. "We were the first to introduce this service, and we received a tremendous response." Another big moment for him was the launch of RCOM's NetConect Broadband Plus service, which was India's first wireless broadband service.

He feels that the telecom sector is going to witness a surge in advertisement-driven content. He says, "Today, content in all traditional media such as TV and newspapers is supported by advertisements.This trend will be seen in telecom as well, with consumers' voice calls or access to the internet being enhanced by ads.Moreover, socially relevant applications such as education and health will become widespread with broadband delivering these applications."

Khera enjoys playing tennis, travelling and watching Aamir Khan movies.