CMC Networks (CMC) today announced that Rakesh Bhasin has been appointed as Chairman of CMC. Bhasin is an internationally renowned telecommunications executive and has been a Non-Executive Director of CMC since June 2017.

Bhasin’s appointment follows Grant Walker’s decision to step down as Chairman on the first of March. Bhasin served as the Chief Executive Officer of the Colt Group SA until 2015. He led Colt for nine years where he restructured the business, launched new service offerings, eliminated regional silos and expanded the business globally. Under his leadership, Colt enhanced profitability and began generating significant positive cash flow.

Before joining Colt, Bhasin acted as president and chief executive at KVH, an integrated data centre and communications services business in Asia, and prior to that he held positions at AT&T and Japan Telecom Company Limited for approximately 13 years. In addition to his professional career, Bhasin is a private investor and is involved in a number of companies across multiple sectors in the capacity of a non-executive director.

“We are delighted to have Rakesh join CMC as the new Chairman,” commented Eric Kump, Managing Director of The Carlyle Group, CMC’s Majority Shareholder. “CMC has always provided its customers with excellent service, offering them world class connectivity in geographies that present operational challenges. Building on this foundation, Rakesh’s global experience in the Telecoms sector and his deep network will help CMC broaden its service offering and enter new geographies, as he has done in his previous roles at Colt and AT&T. Rakesh’s involvement in the business has already resulted in substantial contract wins and improvements to CMC.”

“CMC is a hidden jewel of telecom industry and has a great platform to serve the networking needs of multinational customers in Africa and the Middle East,” added Bhasin. “I am excited to continue to work with Carlyle and the management team to meet evolving needs of our customers and exponentially grow this business.”

For more information on CMC Networks, please visit www.cmcnetworks.net