30 May 2025
New Delhi

Thank you all and congratulations to all the winners!

200+ Attendees | 25+ Speakers | 4+ Sessions

4 Telecom Leadership Awards | 10+ Voice&Data Excellence Award Winners | 25k+ Engagements

Partners

Supporting Partners

Glimpse of event

Overview

Telecom Leadership Forum (TLF) is an annual event organized by Voice&Data, India's leading telecom media platform. The forum brings together policymakers, industry leaders and technology professionals to discuss advancements and future directions in the telecommunications sector

The Telecom Leadership Forum 2025 will focus on enhanced communication that has empowered social inclusion and improved disaster response and governance. TLF will play a crucial role in bridging the digital divide and promoting socio-economic development.

Winner of the Voice&Data Telecom Leadership Awards

Telecom Person
of the Year

Sunil Vachani
Founder & Chairman, Dixon Technologies

Lifetime Achievement
Award

Dr Abhay Karandikar
Secretary, Department of Science & Technology

Special Jury
Trailblazer Award

Apple India , under the leadership of Ashish Chowdhary
(Managing Director, Apple India)

Pathbreaker
Award

C-DOT, under the visionary leadership of Dr Rajkumar Upadhyay
(CEO, C-DOT)

Key Highlights

Half Day Conference
4 Sessions | 2 Panels
20+ Speakers
5 Keynotes
4 Telecom Leadership Awards
20+ Category Awards
200+ Tech & Business Decision Makers
5,000+ Professionals influenced.
Live Networking
Speakers Lounge
Experience Zone
Live Social Feeds

Program

Time Session
08:20 AM – 09:30 AM

Registrations

09:30 AM – 10:50 AM

Welcome Address & Lamp Lighting

  • Pradeep Gupta, Chairman, CyberMedia Group

Digital Infrastructure for Bharat: Bridging the digital divide

  • Brig (Rtd) Anil Tandon, Director General, Broadband India Forum
  • Shyam Prabhakar Mardikar, Group CTO, Reliance Jio Infocomm
  • Dr Devesh Tyagi, CEO, NIXI
  • Ambika Khurana, Chief Regulatory & Corporate Affairs Officer, Vodafone Idea
  • Pankaj Mohindroo, Chairman, ICEA

Chief Guest

  • Niraj Verma, Administrator, USOF, Government of India
10:50 AM – 11:30 AM

V&D TELECOM LEADERSHIP AWARDS PRESENTATION

Welcome to the TLF Awards Jury

  • Lifetime Achievement: Dr Abhay Karandikar, Secretary, Department of Science & Technology, Government of India
  • Special Jury Trailblazer of the Year : Apple India (Ashish Chowdhary, Managing Director, Apple India)
  • Pathbreaker of the Year: C-DOT (Dr RK Upadhyay, CEO, C-DOT)
  • Telecom Person of the Year: Sunil Vachani, Founder & Chairman, Dixon Technologies
11:30 AM – 12:00 PM

Industry Keynote:

  • Arvind Bali, Vice Chairman, GTS TechLabs

Industry Keynote: Indian Telecom Ecosytem

  • Dr RK Upadhyay, CEO, C-DOT

Industry Keynote: Taking a holistic approach to network sustainability

  • Pashupati Singh, Director, Ciena
12:00 PM – 12:40 PM

Beyond 5G: Architecting the Networks of the Future

  • Dharmender Khajuria, Head – Network Partnership, Bharti Airtel
  • Dr Sidharth Shukla, Telecom Expert; Vice Chair – Spectrum Group, Bharat 6G Alliance; and former Joint Advisor – TRAI
  • Sudakshina Laha, Head of Services – MSIT and ADM, Cloud Software and Services, Ericsson
  • Sukhjit Singh, Director Technical & CTO, AT&T Global Network Services India
  • Moderator Jaideep Ghosh, former Partner, KPMG India
12:40 PM – 01:00 PM

FIRESIDE CHAT: Tech for Good: Building a Sustainable and Inclusive Digital Future

  • Anku Jain, Managing Director, MediaTek India
  • Dr Jaijit Bhattacharya, President, Centre for Digital Economy Policy
  • Moderator Pradeep Gupta, Chairman, CyberMedia
01:00 PM – 01:20 PM

Voice&Data Awards for Excellence
01:20 PM

Vote of Thanks

  • Rachna Garga, Senior VP & Group Head, CyberMedia

Key Discussion Points

Beyond 5G: Architecting the Networks of the Future

AI-Driven Data Centres: Powering the Next Phase of Digital Infrastructure

Industrial IoT and mission-critical communications

Telecom’s new Digital Frontiers I Remote Collaboration and Virtual Communication Tools

Future of satellite communications and non-terrestrial networks

Tech for good: Building a sustainable and inclusive digital future

Government initiatives and levies I Sustainable Connectivity

Who Should Attend

  • Policy Makers & Regulators
  • CEO’/ CTO’s / CXO’s / CISO’s of Network Service Providers
  • CISO’s / CIO’s / IT Heads of Enterprise Users
  • CXO’s from VAS / Cloud / Content / Application Service Providers
  • CXO’s of Defence / Citizen Networks
  • Start-ups & Investors
  • Influencers and Consultants

Voice&Data Awards for Excellence

Marketing Solutions

Make In India

Network Services

Smartphone Player

Corporate Social
Responsibility

Multilingual
Internet & IDN

Enterprise Business
Services

Network Infrastructure
& Innovation

IOT/AI

Innovation in Mobile banking

Security

Business Process
Innovation

5G
Innovations

Tablet

Content
Services

Cloud Services

Invited Speakers

Dr Abhay Karandikar

Secretary, Department of Science & Technology, Government of India

Ashish Chowdhary

, Managing Director, Apple India

Sunil Vachani

vsManaging Director, Media Tek

Dharmender Khajuria

Head - Network Partnerships, Bharti Airtel

Ambika Khurana

Chief Regulatory & Corporate Affairs Officer, Vodafone Idea

Shyam Prabhakar Mardikar

Group CTO, Reliance Jio Infocomm

Brig (Rtd) Anil Tandon

Director General, Broadband India Forum

Sukhjit Singh

Director Technical , AT&T Asia Pacific

Pankaj Mohindroo

Chairman, ICEA

Arvind Bali

Vice Chairman, GTS TechLabs

Pashupati Singh

Director, Ciena

Dr R K Upadhyay

CEO, C-DOT

Dr Sidharth Shukla

Telecom Expert; Vice Chair – Spectrum Group, Bharat 6G Alliance; and former Joint Advisor – TRAI

Jaideep Ghosh

former Partner, KPMG India

Dr Jaijit Bhattacharya

President, Centre for Digital Economy Policy

Dr Devesh Tyagi

CEO, NIXI

Sudakshina Laha

Head of Services – MSIT and ADM, Cloud Software and Services, Ericsson

Anku Jain

Managing Director, MediaTek India

Pradeep Gupta

Chairman, CyberMedia Group