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Journalism of Courage
T-Mobile, the US telecom giant, announced on Monday that it has appointed its current Chief Operating Officer, India-born Srini Gopalan, as the company’s next Chief Executive Officer (CEO), effective November 1, 2025. With this elevation, Gopalan joins the distinguished club of India-born CEOs heading some of the world’s most influential companies in the US, a group that includes Satya Nadella of Microsoft, Sundar Pichai of Alphabet and Google, Vimal Kapur of Honeywell, Raj Subramaniam of FedEx, Arvind Krishna of IBM, and Shantanu Narayen of Adobe.
What’s T-Mobile
Gopalan, born in Delhi, will now lead T-Mobile, the largest US telecom company in terms of market capitalization at $267 billion, and the third-largest by revenue, trailing only Verizon and AT&T. In fiscal year 2024, T-Mobile posted annual revenue of $81.40 billion, equivalent to over Rs 7.16 lakh crore.
In a LinkedIn post, Gopalan, an alumnus of the 1992 batch of IIM Ahmedabad and Delhi Public School (1985-87), expressed his admiration for the company’s bold culture and passionate workforce. “For a decade, I admired this team from afar — watching them push harder, move faster, and think bigger than anyone else in this industry. Over the last several years, on T-Mobile’s board and as Chief Operating Officer, I’ve witnessed firsthand what makes this team extraordinary: a culture obsessed with smashing customer pain points and employees who bring an unbelievable passion to everything they do,” he wrote.
His career graph
Gopalan’s career graph spans both global and Indian corporate landscapes. He began his professional journey with Unilever India in 1992, where he worked until 1995 as Area Sales Manager. He then moved on to key leadership roles including Consumer Director at Bharti Airtel, Senior Vice President at Capital One, and Board Member for Europe at Deutsche Telekom. He also held responsibilities at Vodafone before joining T-Mobile in June 2009 as Chief Marketing Officer. Earlier this year, in March 2025, he was elevated to Chief Operating Officer, where he has overseen the company’s Technology, Consumer, and Business divisions.
Gopalan is widely credited for bringing both technical acumen and business vision to his leadership roles. At T-Mobile, he has championed the company’s transformation into a data-driven, AI-enabled, digital-first enterprise with a sharp focus on customer experience. He has been instrumental in strengthening T-Mobile’s 5G leadership and driving innovation in next-generation mobile networks. “What lies ahead of us, though, is even more exciting because over the last five years we have built America’s best network and digital/AI capabilities that are far ahead of anyone else in our industry. We can and will truly unleash the Un-carrier,” Gopalan said.
