Shubha N. Bhambhani comes with over three decades of experience in ICT. A Group “A” officer of the Indian Telecommunication Services, 1987 batch, Bhambhani has handled several technical, managerial and administrative roles during her telecom career. She has played a key role in the introduction of various new services in the country like ISDN, intelligent services, uniform numbering scheme, dynamic carrier selection, One India Plan, Y2K solution, convergence billing systems, indigenous technology switching systems and next-generation networks. In recent years, she has also been instrumental in establishing BSNL as a major player in the Smart Cities project. In her current role, Bhambani is responsible for providing overall strategy support to BSNL’s chairman and managing director in all his functions. She believes that telecom, which served as the foundation for connectivity, has become a ubiquitous service today, giving an impetus to a varied set of utilities. “The development of a parallel ecosystem through enhanced computing, 5G and intelligent devices has created an interesting era for telecom to metamorphose from a connectivity layer to a service delivery layer,” she adds.

Bhambhani has completed a postgraduate programme in public policy and management from MDI Gurgaon and regularly presents at national and international events on emerging telecom trends and technologies. Her paper on “Smart Irrigation and Agricultural Technologies” presented before ITU-T’s Focus Group on Smart Water Management was much appreciated. She has also written a research paper on “Role of ICT in developing Smart Cities”, which was published in the Journal of Development Management and Communication.

On managing her team, she says it is all about setting the right objectives for others according to their capability, capacity, and circumstances. Every person has a unique frequency, she says, which characterises him/her. She likes to spend time with family, friends and relatives. She loves to read and confesses that she was labelled as “Kitabi Keera” during her childhood. She is also fond of watching movies, especially the ones with world war themes, and documentaries on historical facts, wars, etc. She lives in a joint family. Her husband Naresh Bhambhani, also from the telecom industry, is her friend, philosopher and guide, who has always supported, encouraged and helped her in all her endeavours. She has two children, who she believes are her constant source of inspiration and strength.