Balachandran joins from Bharti Global, where he served as CFO since Oct 2018. Prior to this, he also held the position of CFO of Bharti Airtel for seven years.
During his tenure, Airtel undertook extensive M&A activity, grew its customer base five-fold in subscriber numbers and expanded its operations to 18 countries. In addition, Balachandran was closely involved with Airtel's launch and scaling up of its satellite TV business in India as well as the rapid expansion of Airtel's Global Business.
"Having had the opportunity to work with Srikanth in his most recent role as CFO of Bharti Global, the team at OneWeb has seen first-hand the wealth of experience and expertise he will bring to his new position at OneWeb,” said Neil Masterson, CEO of OneWeb.
“He will assume responsibility for helping us deliver our ambitious business plan, securing additional funding and establishing high standards of governance."
Balachandran started his career as a management trainee at Unilever, where he spent 23 years across leadership roles in finance, supply chain and HR in India and UK. He also held the role of chief human resources officer for 3 years at Airtel.
A Chartered Accountant of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Balachandran was also named the Best Telecom CFO in 2014 by CNBC TV18.
"OneWeb has an unparalleled opportunity to create value for communities, businesses and governments. Our plans to create a telecoms network in space will be game-changing and will help realise OneWeb's vision of 'internet access everywhere, for everyone,” added Balachandran.
"OneWeb has fantastic support from our new investors in terms of funding, market access and customer reach. We will invest responsibly for customer experience and profitable growth. I am truly privileged to be part of this exciting journey."
OneWeb is owned by UK Government, Bharti Global as well as other strategic investors
