Kharod is to succeed Terry Bleakley, who previously led the APAC team. As of 1 April, Bleakley will transition to a part-time senior advisory role at Intelsat and continue to support key growth opportunities in the region.
"Intelsat is on an ambitious growth trajectory in the APAC market, and Gaurav brings with him the expertise that will help us achieve these goals. I look forward to achieving many milestones under Gaurav's leadership in the region," said Jean-Philippe Gillet, senior vice president of global sales, network and media at Intelsat.
Kharod enters the role from Intelsat’s India office, where he served as the managing sales director of South Asia and India.
During his tenure, Kharod led the Media business sales team, overseeing the organisation’s strategy in the region. He also developed a successful entry strategy for Intelsat’s high throughput satellite, IS-33e, in the Indian market.
Before joining Intelsat, Kharod held leadership roles at Hughes India and Viasat, in the satellite domain, along with period at Conax AS.
In related news, December saw Intelsat partner with Japan Airlines to roll out Intelsat’s connectivity service on the airlines’ Embraer E190 aircraft for its subsidiary airline, J-AIR.
Japan Airlines has installed Intelsat’s 2Ku system on the first of J-AIR’s E190 aircraft and will be installing 13 additional aircraft by autumn 2024. The airline has been offering free wireless entertainment services since 2016.
By adding 2Ku, this will make J-AIR the first regional aircraft in Japan to offer inflight entertainment and connectivity services, as well as the first E190 aircraft equipped globally with the Intelsat 2Ku system.
