Bhandari will lead Mavenir’s expansion into the NeoCloud market and its Forward Deployment Engineering practice across communications service providers and NeoCloud customers

RICHARDSON, Texas, Aug. 10, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mavenir today announced the appointment of Jitin Bhandari as Executive Vice President, NeoCloud Platform and Forward Deployment Engineering.

In this role, Bhandari will lead Mavenir’s expansion into the rapidly growing NeoCloud market while building a Forward Deployment Engineering practice that will work across Mavenir’s communications service provider and NeoCloud customer base. 

Building on its recently announced AI-Integrated Platform and AI Service Assurance framework for communications service providers, Mavenir is extending its AI platform, tools and cloud-native expertise to NeoCloud providers. This represents a significant new market opportunity that is additive to Mavenir’s established global base of mobile network operators, communications service providers and hyperscalers.

Bhandari brings nearly three decades of experience in telecommunications, software-native technologies, product innovation and business leadership. He joins Mavenir from Nokia, where he most recently served as Chief Technology Officer for Cloud and Network Services, with responsibility for technology strategy and innovation across cloud-native and AI-powered networking solutions.

During his tenure at Nokia, Bhandari held several executive leadership positions, including Chief Product Officer for Core Network Applications and Vice President and General Manager of Digital Networks, where he led large-scale software portfolios and next-generation communications platforms. Earlier in his career, he held leadership roles at Oracle, Acme Packet and Alcatel-Lucent, helping drive the industry’s transition to cloud-native architectures, network virtualization, software-defined networking and real-time communications services.

“I am delighted to welcome Jitin to Mavenir at a pivotal moment for our industry,” said Pardeep Kohli, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mavenir. “We helped our customers transition from proprietary systems to cloud-native architectures, and we are now well positioned to help them adopt and operationalize AI in all aspects of their business including IT, BSS/OSS, Network Planning etc. Our technology enables customers to build secure, automated model and agent factories within their own security boundaries, while maintaining control over data, performance and cost.

“Jitin brings a rare combination of deep technical expertise, a proven ability to build and scale software portfolios, and a clear vision for AI. He is the right leader to expand our AI platform and establish a Forward Deployment Engineering practice that will work closely with both our communications service provider and NeoCloud customers. Under his leadership, we will accelerate the delivery of AI-by-design, cloud-native solutions and extend our capabilities into new markets and use cases.”

“This is an exciting time to join Mavenir,” said Bhandari. “The company has built a strong foundation in cloud-native, software-based networks and is uniquely positioned to lead the transition toward AI-by-design and agentic operations. I look forward to working with the Mavenir team and our customers to expand the company’s AI platform, tools and Forward Deployment Engineering capabilities—turning that vision into tangible outcomes for communications service providers, NeoCloud providers and enterprises around the world.”

Bhandari will report to Mavenir President and Chief Executive Officer Pardeep Kohli.

About Mavenir 

Mavenir is enabling intelligent, automated, programmable networks through the development of telco-first, cloud-native, AI-by-design software solutions for mobile operators. The company's deep telco domain expertise has been proven through deployments with 300+ operators globally in over 120 countries, which together serve more than 50% of the world's subscribers. Mavenir combines its deep telco experience with the cloud and IT expertise and data science skillsets essential to solving real customer challenges. Its proven software solutions are AI by design, delivering the AI-native future and operators' evolution to TechCos. For more information, please visit www.mavenir.com 

Media Contact: 

Emmanuela Spiteri 
PR@mavenir.com 

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/97d7d58c-72eb-47e9-95ec-ed1f14a8b562