Praneet Pandey

Senior Telecom Executive with 25+ years of end-to-end industry experience driving network & product strategy, Business operation, P&L management, and large-scale infrastructure modernization. Serving as the statutory anchor for India-licensed entities, combining deep technical & business acumen with authoritative navigation of DoT compliance and regulatory affairs. A strategic, product-minded leader expert in optimizing network economics, CAPEX/OPEX structures, and IT integrations.

Consistently leverages leadership and cross-functional engineering and commercial teams to deploy next-generation network architectures, elevate customer experience, accelerate operational excellence and revenue growth.

Sr. Product Manager & CTO India - VERIZON COMMUNICATION INDIA PVT. LTD - Bangalore, India

(2007-09)

Network planning & architecture, engineering, implementation & optimization, Carrier & Product lifecycle management, Sales enablement, India Regulatory & compliance & P&L

• Managed $25M annual revenue from Ethernet access portfolio, with 5-8% cost optimization. Launched 36 new access products across 13 countries in 2025 for better CX.
• Securing $12M TCV by architecting over 10+ customized engineering solutions for high-value 100G RFPs, leveraging technical innovations to drive transformative enterprise revenue growth.
• Leading the global rollout of Software-Defined Interconnects (SDI), 7X100G ENNIs, and Direct to Service Edge (D2SE) architectures to scale high-bandwidth capabilities and future-proof network infrastructure. Deployed first 100G ENNI in International.
• Spearheaded global Lean Business Agility (LBA) initiatives for new access configurations, generated $45M in revenue with a 1-year payback, secured $1.86M in annual cost avoidance and drove a 45% improvement in delivery efficiency.
• Establishing the evaluation framework for Intl. carriers, ENNI deployments, and Ethernet/Wave access portfolios, utilizing structured questionnaires, SLA-driven product grading, and performance run rates to optimize partner capabilities.
• Scaling foundational infrastructure through the continuous expansion of the India network, building a multi-million-dollar IP portfolio that delivers over $10M (110+ Crores) in India OpCo revenue.
• Defining the technical and commercial strategy for international Wave services while transforming regulatory frameworks into a commercial engine by securing key telecom licenses (IPLC Resale, VNO NLD, VNO ISP-A), driving 60.3% YoY growth for the Wave portfolio and 21.4% YoY for broadband services.
• Executing 5+ critical regulatory projects (100G LIM, URL filtering, IPDR, CMS, and IPFIX), ensuring 100% compliance while minimizing total solution costs for high-bandwidth customers.
• Deploying advanced global billing architectures to accurately net partner costs under AGR telecom reforms, capturing 5% in statutory savings while establishing rigorous financial discipline.
• Directed commercial teams in architecting dynamic product cost models for four products and optimizing strategic access markups to protect margins and maximize P&L profitability.
• Orchestrated rigorous technical partner management, driving a 90% acceleration in vendor onboarding lifecycles and securing a 5-8% year-on-year reduction in global network access costs.
• Leading local Indian SMEs to successfully manage over five government projects and multiple technical and security audits with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).
• Led virtual teams of over 20 SMEs across various functions to deliver next-generation 100G network designs, addressed OSS/BSS system gaps, ensuring seamless operations and improved customer experience.

ILD Transmission Lead - RELIANCE COMMUNICATION - Mumbai, India

(2002-10 - 2007-09)

Led 8 Engineers for ILD network provisioning, troubleshooting and planned works.

• Led team for international network augmentation, capacity provisioning, carrier coordination, and planned events for network re-configuration, reducing network downtime by 95%.
• Developed three operational processes that enhanced reporting efficiency by 70-80% and worked closely with global carrier partners to optimize international network performance.

Optical Network Engineer - GLOW NETWORK PVT. LTD - Bangalore, India

(2000-10 - 2002-03)

Designed and planned DWDM networks across APAC regional sites for Nortel-based solution

• Engineered 25+ bespoke, end-to-end network solutions, BOM & drawings across global region.
• Developed Nortel DWDM optimization tools that accelerated complex network design, proposals, and BOM preparation for global clients, reducing submission time by 80% and ensuring 100% accuracy with faster time-to-revenue.

Research Associate - INDIAN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE - Bangalore, India

(1999-01 - 2000-09)

Designed and developed optical technologies supporting 3 client projects to fulfil client requirements.

• Directed the management of network architecture and hardware selection for 50+ core network nodes at Reliance, establishing foundational technical frameworks for end-to-end architecture and carrier-grade failover schemes.
• Designed & developed two advanced photonic chips for GOI-backed projects optical gyroscope and phased array radar systems.

Business & Executive Mgmt. Program in General Management - General Management - Indian Institute of Management (IIM) (2017 - 2017)

Master of Technology (M.Tech.) - Optoelectronic - Optical Communication - SGSITS, DAVV (1999 - 1999)