Reference: GILA/ID/SUC-014/TOWER
Board seat: Independent Director, Non-Executive
Primary board location: Gurugram and Mumbai
Meeting model: Five board, five Audit and four Risk/Investment meetings
Mandate type: Planned Tenure-Expiry Succession
Status: Confidential live-search specification; client identity released only after conflict clearance and NDA.
The anonymised enterprise
A listed telecom-infrastructure owner operating macro towers, small-cell assets and fibre-linked sites under long-term master service agreements with mobile-network customers.
Portfolio exceeds 55,000 tenancy points. The Audit and Investment Committee member who guided the business through consolidation reaches term end in eleven months, while 5G densification capex and a large tenancy renewal enter decision phase.
The board problem and strategic reason for appointment
The successor must preserve contract and asset-level discipline but add technology-evolution judgement. Key questions are tenancy quality, energy pass-through, decommissioning, customer credit and whether new small-cell economics justify the cost of capital.
The board is not buying a credential. It is appointing an independent decision-maker who can convert this problem into a governed sequence of choices, evidence and accountability. Success will be judged by the quality of decisions and control improvement, not by the number of recommendations made.
Board position, authority and interfaces
Member of Audit and Risk/Investment; expected to lead annual capital-allocation deep dive and succession into committee chairmanship after one year.
The appointee will have direct, unfiltered access to the Company Secretary and to the relevant control-function leaders. Any advisory support requested by the board must remain management-executed: the director sets questions, tolerances and evidence standards, but does not become an executive or consultant.
First 12–18 month strategic charter
- Review predecessor’s open positions on renewal, impairment and decommissioning provisions; re-underwrite small-cell and fibre capex with site-level return cohorts; test customer concentration, MSA termination rights and energy pass-through recovery; govern battery theft, diesel dependence and climate resilience across critical circles
- Use the overlap period to transfer committee memory, recurring judgement calls, regulator history and unresolved board actions without turning the successor into a replica of the incumbent.
- Refresh the skills matrix against the next strategy cycle, not the previous one, and set an evidence-based board-evaluation objective for the first full year after succession.
Decision profile sought
Essential evidence
- Telecom infrastructure, network economics, digital infrastructure investing or asset-heavy operations experience; capital-allocation depth; listed-board financial literacy
Differentiators
- Experience with tower consolidation, fibre monetisation or renewable-energy conversion; prior Audit or Investment Committee succession
GILA will assess future-fit capability, willingness to learn during a structured overlap, independence from the incumbent network, and capacity to refresh rather than merely preserve. Candidates should expect a case discussion based on an ambiguous board decision from this mandate, not a career-history interview alone.
Independence, suitability and downside diligence
The search will apply Section 149(6), Sections 164–165, Schedule IV and the applicable listing or sector rules to the entity’s legally verified status at the appointment date. Databank/proficiency status, listed-entity directorship and committee ceilings, pecuniary relationships, relatives’ interests, recent audit/advisory work and interlocking directorships will be checked. The appointment is subject to formal legal and secretarial confirmation; this posting is not a substitute for that determination.
Mandate-specific screens: Current telecom-operator employment, tower-vendor economics, competing infrastructure fund roles or material spectrum advisory interests.
Before accepting the seat, the candidate will receive under NDA the latest board composition, committee charters, material litigation/regulatory schedule, related-party map, last audited accounts, current D&O policy and the specific risk papers necessary to make an informed liability assessment.
Twelve-month outcomes
The board expects continuity of oversight with a visible upgrade in the capability required by the next strategic cycle. For this particular seat, the evidence will be:
- Committee handover completed through an explicit judgement log; capex cohorts show board-approved hurdle and kill criteria; renewal and customer-credit downside integrated into impairment testing
Commitment, protection and economics
- Expected load: 22–26 days annually, including asset-field reviews.
- Terms: Five-year term after scheduled vacancy; standard listed-company remuneration; D&O and independent valuation advice protocol.
- Protection: Appointment letter, deed of indemnity where legally available, appropriate D&O cover including discovery/run-off terms, access to independent advice under the board-approved protocol, and complete minuting of dissent.
- Equity: No stock options where the appointment is legally an independent-director seat subject to Section 149(9). Any private-company structure outside that perimeter will be expressly classified and separately advised; no equity is implied by this posting.
Search process
Conflict pre-clearance → GILA/SYMPHONY™ board-fit interview → mandate case → document-led diligence under NDA → references from board peers and control functions → NRC/owner interviews → statutory, regulatory and reputation checks → board recommendation. Candidate consent, disclosures and appointment approvals will follow the law and the entity’s constitutional documents.