Vivek Sood

Vivek Sood is the CEO of Axiata Group Berhad, Malaysia's largest telecommunications conglomerate with mobile operations across six Asian emerging markets. Axiata's portfolio includes CelcomDigi (Malaysia's largest mobile operator, created by the 2022 merger of Celcom and Digi), XL Axiata (Indonesia), Robi (Bangladesh), Smart Axiata (Cambodia), Dialog Axiata (Sri Lanka), and Ncell (Nepal), collectively serving over 160 million subscribers. The landmark Celcom-Digi merger was the most transformative event in Axiata's recent history, creating a mobile operator with over 20 million subscribers and significant spectrum, network, and cost synergies. Sood's challenge is extracting maximum value from this merger while managing the diverse portfolio of operating companies across countries with very different economic conditions, regulatory environments, and competitive landscapes. His key decisions involve CelcomDigi integration and synergy realization, XL Axiata competitive positioning in Indonesia's fierce mobile market, portfolio optimization (potential divestments or partnerships in smaller markets), digital services and fintech development, and capital structure management.