The three people at the top of the GSMA, the global mobile industry body, all run operators with large African businesses.
The GSMA’s board has re-elected Gopal Vittal as chair for a second term, which runs until December 2028. It also elected Vodafone Group CEO Margherita Della Valle as co-deputy chair alongside MTN Group CEO Ralph Mupita, who was re-elected. The GSMA represents mobile operators and the wider mobile industry, and organises the MWC trade shows.
Vittal is executive vice-chairman of India’s Bharti Airtel and non-executive chair of its African arm, Airtel Africa, which operates in 14 countries on the continent. He has sat on the GSMA board for 10 years and has been chair since 2025.
Mupita has led MTN, which operates in 16 markets, mostly in Africa, since September 2020, and has been a GSMA deputy chair since April 2025. Its biggest operation, MTN Nigeria, returned to faster growth in the third quarter.
Our top priority is security, the rising menace of scams and the need for the industry to stay sustainable enough to keep investing in networks.
Gopal Vittal
Della Valle has run Vodafone since January 2023. Vodafone controls Vodacom, which operates in African markets including Suuth Africa, Egypt, Tanzania, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique and Lesotho.
MTN and Airtel Africa are direct rivals in several of those markets. They are the two biggest operators in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, and also compete in Uganda and Zambia.
“Our top priority is security,” Vittal said, pointing to threats to nations, “the rising menace of scams” and the need for the industry to stay sustainable enough to keep investing in networks. – (c) 2026 NewsCentral Media
