Singh has informed the Skycell board of his decision to quit. He is slated to leave India by mid-October to take up his new assignment in Europe.

The fund, for which J P Morgan is the lead arranger, has partners in Radio Design and the UK-based Pali group as well. Singh will primarily concentrate on the East European market, he says. His first assignment is in Bucharest, from where he will proceed to London.

Speaking to The Financial Express, Singh said that his moving out had nothing to do with the rumours circulating about a possible sell-out of either or both the promoters stake in Skycell, a joint venture between Crompton Greaves of the Thapar group and Bell South of USA. ``I was taken with a clear mandate and feel that I have completedmy assignment satisfactorily. It is time to move on,'' he said.

The mandate when Singh came in three years ago was to pull up marketshare, to build a strong brand identity, to ensure that the company reaches operating profit levels, to hire a professional team to run the operations and to upgrade the technical aspect of the cellular business.

Skycell now has a 55 per cent marketshare, says Singh. The brand-building exercise has been the strongest with Skycell promoting and sponsoring many unusual events as well as introducing aggressive schemes in the market.

Operations have stabilised and the network has been established. So it is move-on-time, he says. As for his successor, Singh thinks that the person should be customer-driven, rather than owner-driven.