Arun Sarin, who resigned as Vodafone Group’s CEO in mid-2008, has taken a seat on the Aricent board of directors.
Sarin works as a senior adviser at KKR, one of Aricent’s major investors. Aricent develops software, including OSS platforms, and provides consulting services to telecom companies.
“Innovation and technology are so tightly coupled today that operators cannot look at them separately,” Sarin said in a prepared statement. “Aricent is the first company with a complete solution to this difficult set of challenges, and the future looks very exciting.”
Indeed, the Aricent board said in a press release they asked Sarin to join for his “contemporary understanding” of providers’ business models “and technical priorities.”
“Arun's intimate knowledge of the challenges operators face to deliver innovative subscriber experiences in the face of unprecedented technology complexity will provide invaluable insights to Aricent,” said Aricent CEO Sudip Nandy in a statement.
Sarin became CEO of Vodafone, co-parent of Verizon Wireless, in 2003. He spent much of his time there focusing on entry into markets including India, Ghana, Romania and Czech Republic. He also worked to acquire spectrum licenses and, when he decided to step down, did so to analyst acclaim.
“Sarin has shepherded Vodafone through its difficult teenage years, including the aftermath of the 3G license debacle and the tech bust of the early 2000s,” Jeremy Green, an Ovum analyst, said at the time,
Sarin now joins several of his KKR colleagues on Aricent’s board, as well as a representative from The Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board, another Aricent investor.
