Colt has announced the appointment of Rajiv Datta as chief technology officer. Datta joins Colt on 1 January and will be a member of Colt’s Executive Leadership team under Carl Grivner who takes over as CEO on 1 January.
In this role Datta will be responsible for the development of Colt’s network technology strategy, the creation of its next generation of products and services, including the evolution of its SDN-based network capability, and the delivery of its digital customer experience.
Datta has held a number of very senior strategic positions in the telecoms and communications infrastructure industry, most notably at AboveNet Communications, where he was most recently chief operating officer. In this role, Datta was responsible for the day-to-day management of the company including sales, marketing, service delivery, network management, IT, engineering, and infrastructure.
Datta played a very significant part in recasting AboveNet from a carrier-centric fibre infrastructure company into an enterprise-focused provider of high-bandwidth data services with industry-leading financial performance. During his time as CTO and COO at the company AboveNet grew annualised revenue from $190 million to $500 million, achieved 45%+ EBITDA margins and increased enterprise value from $280 million to $2.2 billion.
Commenting on the appointment Carl Grivner said “We are delighted that Rajiv has decided to join us at such an important point in Colt’s ongoing journey. His track record of transforming business performance speaks for itself and, as we look to Colt’s future, this will be invaluable in creating the levels of focus, speed and innovation that we need.”
