FTTH · FWA · DOCSIS · ISP · WIRELINE · ENTERPRISE FIBER
Fixed Broadband & Fiber
Executive Search
24+ FTTH / ISP Placements — with an average 86 Days time-to-placement and a 12-month candidate guarantee.
24+
FTTH / ISP Placements
86 Days
Avg. Time-to-Placement
89%
Offer Acceptance Rate
12 Months
Candidate Guarantee
Specialisation withinTelecommunications·Connecting the World
Fixed broadband and fibre in India spans JioFiber (Reliance Jio), Airtel Xstream Fiber (Bharti Airtel), BSNL Bharat Fiber (state-owned), Vi Fiber (Vodafone Idea), regional and LCO-consolidator ISPs (ACT Fibernet — Atria Convergence, Hathway Broadband, GTPL Hathway, DEN Broadband, RailWire — Railtel, Alliance Broadband, Tikona), enterprise-fiber and fiber-backhaul specialists (Tata Communications, Sify Technologies — listed, Vodafone Business India, NxtGen, Lightstorm), and the emerging FWA (Fixed-Wireless-Access) players leveraging 5G from Jio / Airtel. Total FTTH subs crossed 48 million in 2025 with household-penetration still below 30%.
Is This Your Situation?
If any of these sound familiar, you're speaking to the right practice.
→A regional ISP sought a CEO to scale a ₹2,000 Cr FTTH business — placed in 92 days
→An operator hired a Head of FWA for 5G-based home-broadband rollout — closed in 82 days
→An enterprise-fiber specialist needed a Head of Sales for Fortune-India-500 accounts — placed in 76 days
→A telco FTTH arm sought a Chief Customer Officer — closed in 88 days
Our Fixed Broadband & Fiber Track Record
Situation:
A regional ISP sought a CEO to scale a ₹2,000 Cr FTTH business and integrate multiple LCO partners.
Outcome:
Placed a candidate with prior telco-FTTH leadership in 92 days; FTTH subs grew 48% in year one; ARPU lifted 22%.
Situation:
A telco FTTH arm needed a Chief Customer Officer to improve NPS and reduce churn.
Outcome:
Placed a candidate from a consumer-internet platform in 88 days; NPS improved from 12 to 41 in 14 months; churn fell by 140 bps.
All client details anonymised. Specific mandates available for reference under NDA upon request.
Our Fixed Broadband & Fiber Practice
Fixed broadband and fibre in India spans JioFiber (Reliance Jio), Airtel Xstream Fiber (Bharti Airtel), BSNL Bharat Fiber (state-owned), Vi Fiber (Vodafone Idea), regional and LCO-consolidator ISPs (ACT Fibernet — Atria Convergence, Hathway Broadband, GTPL Hathway, DEN Broadband, RailWire — Railtel, Alliance Broadband, Tikona), enterprise-fiber and fiber-backhaul specialists (Tata Communications, Sify Technologies — listed, Vodafone Business India, NxtGen, Lightstorm), and the emerging FWA (Fixed-Wireless-Access) players leveraging 5G from Jio / Airtel. Total FTTH subs crossed 48 million in 2025 with household-penetration still below 30%.
Gladwin’s Fixed Broadband & Fiber practice places CEOs, Chief Operating Officers, Heads of FTTH / FWA / Enterprise Fiber, Heads of Home-Broadband Consumer Business, Heads of Network Planning & Rollout, Heads of LCO / Partner Channel and Chief Customer Officers. Every mandate accounts for DoT / TRAI regulatory architecture for wireline ISPs, Right-of-Way (RoW) navigation under Telecommunications Act 2023, fibre-laying capex economics and the consumer-plus-enterprise dual P&L.
As a specialist CEO mandates in ISPs, our practice also covers COO placements in broadband operators, our practice also covers Telecommunications practice overview, and as a source for Telecom — telecom infrastructure & towers.
The Fixed Broadband & Fiber Landscape Today
FTTH crossed 48M subs with Jio Fiber leading (~15M), Airtel Xstream (~8M), BSNL (~5M) and regional ISPs (ACT, Hathway, GTPL, RailWire) holding ~20M combined. Enterprise-fiber / dark-fibre / fibre-backhaul is a ₹40,000+ Cr market led by Tata Communications, Sify, Vi Business and Jio Business. 5G-FWA has started providing a fast-install alternative to FTTH and is scaling to 2–3M homes. Telecom Act 2023 RoW provisions are accelerating fibre rollout. PM-WANI has an expanded role enabling public Wi-Fi.
Key Leadership Challenges in Fixed Broadband & Fiber
Right-of-Way (RoW) navigation — state / municipal charges, permissions, dig-coordination
Fibre capex discipline — ₹7,000–15,000 per home passed; payback at 2.5–4 years
LCO / partner-channel stewardship — integrating local cable operators into managed-ISP models
FTTH vs FWA strategic choice for Tier-2 / Tier-3 rollout
Enterprise-fibre deal-pursuit and large-bandwidth contract economics
Churn management — FTTH churn in India is materially higher than global benchmarks (3–4% monthly)
What We Look For in Fixed Broadband & Fiber Leaders
Across mandates, fixed broadband & fiber leadership tends to cluster into a small set of archetypes. We calibrate each search against the profile your board actually needs — not the one most commonly available.
The ISP CEO
A senior leader with 15–22 years of ISP / broadband P&L stewardship, FTTH-and-FWA dual fluency, RoW / municipal-navigation credibility and the governance rhythm of telco / PE / strategic-investor platforms.
The COO
An operations leader with multi-city FTTH rollout credibility, LCO-integration stewardship, install-productivity discipline and customer-experience architecture.
The Enterprise-Fiber Leader
A commercial leader with Fortune-India-500-and-GCC-account-management credibility, large-bandwidth-contract architecture and dark-fibre / MPLS / SD-WAN solution stewardship.
The Network-Rollout Head
A network-planning leader with fibre-ring / metro-core / access-network design credibility, capex-efficiency discipline and vendor-management stewardship.
The Consumer-Broadband Head
A consumer-broadband leader with home-subscriber growth credibility, bundle-architecture (broadband + OTT + voice) stewardship and churn-management discipline.
The LCO / Partner-Channel Leader
A partner-channel leader with LCO / MSO integration credibility, revenue-share-architecture stewardship and local-operator-network expansion discipline.
Regulatory & Compensation Context
Regulatory Backdrop
Indian Telegraph Act 1885 and Telecommunications Act 2023 with simplified RoW under Section 11 and 12; DoT Unified Licence (ISP category-A / B / C); TRAI Act and TRAI (Broadband) Regulations; TRAI (QoS) Regulations for broadband service; Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995 where cable-plus-broadband bundles operate; state / municipal Rules under Section 10 of Indian Telegraph Right of Way Rules 2016 (being superseded by Telecom Act 2023 RoW Rules); Information Technology Act 2000 for intermediary / ISP obligations including CERT-In directives; DPDP Act 2023; Companies Act 2013; IBC 2016 for stressed ISP resolution; Competition Act 2002 for consolidation approvals; Spectrum Licensing for FWA operators; Railtel Act for railway-right-of-way backbone operators.
Compensation Architecture
ISP CEOs: ₹4–10 Cr fixed + STI + ESOP; COOs: ₹3–7 Cr + STI; Heads of Enterprise Fiber: ₹3–7 Cr + revenue-linked STI; Heads of Consumer Broadband: ₹2.5–5 Cr; Heads of Network Rollout: ₹2–4.5 Cr; Heads of LCO / Partner Channel: ₹1.8–3.5 Cr; Chief Customer Officers: ₹2.5–5 Cr.
Roles We Typically Place
Why Gladwin International Leadership Advisors for Fixed Broadband & Fiber
CEO / MD searches at FTTH and ISP operators
Chief Operating Officer searches
Head of FTTH / FWA / Enterprise Fiber searches
Head of Home-Broadband Consumer Business searches
Head of Network Planning & Rollout searches
Head of LCO / Partner Channel searches
Chief Customer Officer searches
Organisations We Serve
Telco-operator FTTH arms — JioFiber, Airtel Xstream Fiber, Vi Fiber, BSNL Bharat Fiber
Regional and LCO-consolidator ISPs — ACT Fibernet (Atria), Hathway, GTPL Hathway, DEN, RailWire (Railtel)
Enterprise-fiber specialists — Tata Communications, Sify Technologies, Vi Business, Lightstorm, NxtGen
Niche / local ISPs — Alliance Broadband, Tikona, Spectra, You Broadband (acquired)
Fiber-infrastructure providers — STL (Sterlite), Railtel, PGCIL Fiber subsidiary
Data-centre and cross-border-fibre operators
Fixed Broadband & Fiber leaders assessed on the Telecom “SIGNAL” framework
Seven dimensions calibrated for telecommunications leadership. Dimensions are calibrated for fixed broadband & fiber mandates where relevant.
Parent Practice
Return to Telecommunications
Discuss a Fixed Broadband & Fiber Mandate
Confidential · No obligation
Response within 4 business hours · All enquiries handled by a senior practice partner · Strictly confidential