Recognizing his contribution to the Indian telecom industry, Mukesh Ambani, CMD, Reliance Infocomm has been awarded the coveted Voice&Data Telecom Man of the Year 2004 award. This was announced by the minister of state for communications and IT, Dr Shakeel Ahmad at the annual V&D100 Awards ceremony held in New Delhi.

Ambani was chosen Telecom Man of the Year for 2003–04 by a panel of eminent telecom professionals for his vision and efforts, which has helped transform the telecom sector and the lives of millions of Indians by making the masses a part of India's telecom revolution. On being named the Telecom Man of the Year, he said, "It is the wishes from the people and the industry that make us strive harder in making telecom services more affordable for the masses and leapfrog our country on to the international information technology superhighway."

The Telecom Man of the Year award is a recognition of the impact that a person has had on the telecom industry in the last fiscal year, by: leading technological innovations, increasing the subscriber base, and affecting the tariffs and the speed with which new services and networks are rolled out.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Ahmad said that Indian telecom industry has come a long way and now it's time for the country to be the nerve center for the world.

He added that though a host of telecom services are being provided in the country-from plain vanilla telecom apps to cutting edge Wi-Fi; however, connecting the remote villages continues to be an uphill task. "These fruits of the telecom revolution should reach the village population as well. We need to increase the tele-density of the country and that's how we can accelerate the process of bridging the digital divide," he said. He also called upon the industry to raise the quality of service (QoS) in telecom.

The V&D100 Awards were presented for 25 categories based on VOICE&DATA's annual V&D100 industry study. The award for the top cellular service provider went to Bharti Tele-Ventures, while Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) was adjudged the Top Fixed Access Service Provider. Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL) was the Top ILD Operator, BSNL the Top Internet Service Provider, and HCL Comnet the Top NMS Provider.

Dr Shakeel Ahmad, minister of state for communications and IT addressing the guests at the V&D 100 Awards function Pradeep Gupta, CMD, CyberMedia welcomes the guests at the V&D100 Awards function Prakash Ranjalkar, senior VP-network engineering, GTL, making a presentation to the guests Prasanto K Roy, chief editor, VOICE&DATA, shares a few thoughts about the findings of the V&D100 2004 survey Mukesh Ambani won the VOICE&DATA 2004 Telecom Man of the Year Award. Dr Shankar Adwal receives the award on his behalf from Dr Shakeel Ahmad, minister of state for communications and IT Rakesh Bharti Mittal, vice chairman and MD, Bharti Teletech, receives the Top Telephone Manufacturer award from Dr Shakeel Ahmad (L) Kewal Khanna, president, Agilent Technologies India receives the award for Top T&M company from  Dr Shakeel Ahmad (L) VP Sinha, then CMD of BSNL, receives the Top Telecom Service Provider award from Dr Shakeel Ahma (L)

The award for the Top VSAT Service Provider went to HCL Comnet, while HP India was adjudged the Top Network Storage Company. BSNL was awarded the Top NLD Service Provider and the Top Telecom Service Provider awards.

Nagendra Venkaswamy, country mananger, Datacraft India, receives the Top Network Integrator award from  Dr Shakeel Ahmad (L) Ashish Chowdhary, country head, Nokia India and South Asia receives the Top Telecom Equipment Company award from Dr Shakeel Ahmad (L) Dr Anand Agarwal, CEO, Sterlite Optical Technologies, receives the Top Telecom Cable Company award from  Dr Shakeel Ahmad (L) Dr Shakeel Ahmad (L) presents the Top VSAT Equipment Company award to Partho Banerjee, CEO, HECL who accepts the award on behalf of HNS YK Pandey, CMD, ITI, receives the Top Telecom Turnkey Services award from Dr Shakeel Ahmad (L)  VP Sinha, then CMD, BSNL, receives the Top Fixed Access Service Provider award from  Dr Shakeel Ahmad (L) P Balaji, VP, marketing and technical solutions, Ericsson India, receives the Top Infrastructure Vendor award from Dr Shakeel Ahmad (L)  Sanjeev Nikore (R), COO, HCL Comnet receives the Top VSAT Service Provider award from EVS Chakravarthy (L), CEO, Iqara Broadband

TCS won the award for being the Top Telecom Software Company, while ITI won the award for the Top Turnkey Services Company. Datacraft India was adjudged the Top Network Integrator and ASC Enterprises the Top Radio Trunking Operator. In the equipment vendors category Tata Telecom was awarded the Top Voice Solutions Company and Cisco Systems as the Top Enterprise Equipment Company and Top WLAN Company.

Sanjay Raina, head-Delhi, MRO-Tek, accepts the Top Modem Vendor award from EVS Chakravarthy (L), CEO, Iqara Broadband Sandeep Raina, regional manager, Cisco Systems India & SAARC receives the Top WLAN Company award from EVS Chakravarthy (L), CEO, Iqara Broadband Vikram Dixit, regional business manager, north and east India, Systimax Solutions, accepts the Top Structured Cabling Company award from NK Goyal, president, TEMA T Singh, senior GM, VSNL, accepts the Top ILD Operator award from NK Goyal (L), president, TEMA Sandeep Raina of Cisco receives the Top Enterprise Equipment Vendor award from NK Goyal (L), president, TEMA VP Sinha, then CMD, BSNL, receives the Top NLD Service Provider award from NK Goyal, president, TEMA Tony Beack and Pravin Valecha of LG Electronics India accepts the Top Mobile Phone Vendor award from NK Goyal, president, TEMA Malay Kalra of ASC Enterprises accepts the Top Radio Trunking Operator award from NK Goyal, president, TEMA

The award for the Top Telephone Vendor went to Bharti Teletech, while LG Electronics India received the award for the top mobile phone vendor. MRO-Tek was adjudged the Top Modem Company, Systimax Solutions the Top Structured Cabling Company and Nokia India the Top Telecom Equipment Company. Sterlite Optical was adjudged the Top Telecom Cables Company and Ericsson India the Top Infrastructure Vendor. Hughes Network Systems India received the award for being the Top VSAT Equipment Company and Agilent Technologies India was the Top T&M Company. 

Sanjay Nandrajog of Bharti Cellular accepts the Top Cellular Service Provider Award from NK Goyal, president, TEMA Rohit Vij, storage specialist, HP, accepts the Top Network Storage award from S Dhadwal, senior VP-network engineering, GTL Ajit Thatte, of Avaya, accepts the Top Enterprise Voice Solutions Company award from NK Goyal VP Sinha, then CMD, BSNL, receives the Top ISP award from S Dhadwal Sanjeev Nikore, COO, HCL Comnet receives the Top NMS Provider award from S Dhadwal Suryakant, VP, TCS receives the Top Telecom Software Company award from S Dhadwal

Zia Askari, CyberMedia News