Finnish telecom gear maker Nokia announced that Sandeep Girotra would become the Head of India as part of the planned merger of the company and Alcatel-Lucent. Mr Girotra is currently Vice President and Head of India, Nokia Networks. Nokia in April had announced the acquisition of French firm Alcatel-Lucent in an all-stock deal valued at 15.6 billion euros ($16.6 billion).

Mr Girotra joined Nokia Networks in 1996 and has held a number of different roles in India, heading the region since 2011. In 2010 he served as Head of Sales for Business Solution Networks having been Customer Team Head at IDEA Cellular within Nokia Siemens Networks from 2007 to 2009. Mr Girotra would report to Ashish Chowdhary, Chief Customer Operations Officer.

Did You Know???

• Nokia orginally started off as a paper production company in 1865 in Finland. The company was established by mining engineer Fredrik Idestam.
• The name ‘Nokia’ is derived from the river Nokianvirta, on the banks of which the company was established.
• Before moving their business into electronics in 1960, Nokia Company expanded to working with rubber, electricity, and cables.
• The world’s first commercial GSM call was made in 1991 in Helsinki over a Nokia-supplied network, by Prime Minister of Finland Harri Holkeri, using a Nokia phone.
• The world’s first satellite call was made in 1994, using a Nokia GSM handset.