U.S. telecommunications giant Nortel Networks' chief marketing and strategy officer Anil Khatod has resigned.

His resignation comes barely a month after Nortel announced that Khatod would be on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., rubbing shoulders with U.S. Congressmen, to address the telecommunications committee on un-tethering of America and the creation of a profitable wireless Internet.

Though the company is yet to announce Khatod's departure so soon after he joined, the Wall Street Journal reported that he maintained he has resigned of his own volition.

Khatod is one of several mid- and top- level managers at the beleaguered global information technology (IT) company to walkout.

Khatod, 42, told the Journal he was leaving "to pursue other opportunities," that he would announce later and that he was taking a three-month break before either starting his own venture or joining another firm.

Khatod also insisted this was "strictly" his own decision. He had been appointed to his present position as recently as April.

Before that he was president of global Internet solutions. He has worked nine years with the company that is soon going to lose its CEO John Roth. Another South Asian, Clarence Chandran, former COO, who had been waiting at the wings to take over from Roth resigned earlier this year on grounds of health.

Nortel most recently announced a 30,000 workforce cut, and is planning to shut down several of its operations. It has also put its project for a research center in India, announced with much fanfare, on hold.

A graduate in business administration from the University of Rajasthan, India, and a masters from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Delhi, Khatod was overseeing the company's business and technology strategies, end-to-end solutions architecture and value proposition, strategic planning, investments, alliances, and global marketing and communications, including media and analyst relations, nortelnetworks.com, advertising, branding, and government relations.

In this role, he was also accountable for developing and delivering solutions to customers that enhance their ability to profit from the high performance Internet by accelerating new revenue streams, lowering costs and enhancing their competitive advantage.

Earlier, as president, Optical Internet; president, Wireless Internet, and vice president, Global Internet Solutions, and before that as vice president, Global Internet Solutions, Khatod was credited with developing Nortel Networks' strategic roadmap where he defined the architecture, value proposition and go-to-market strategy for all products and services.

In addition, Khatod led technology and investment strategies, mergers and acquisitions, alliances, as well as incubating new business opportunities.

Under his leadership, Nortel Networks Optical division grew to more than $10 billion in revenue with over 100 percent compounded annual growth rate resulting in the company emerging as the undisputed leader in this high-growth market.

As president, Wireless Internet, he lead the effort to bring the Nortel Networks technology and market leadership in Core IP (Internet Protocol) to the wireless market -- a strategy which propelled Nortel Networks into the number two market leadership position.

Since joining Nortel Networks in 1982, Khatod held management positions in customer service, finance, operations, product management, sales and marketing.

He began his professional career as a management consultant in India in 1976. In 1980, he then founded and ran Ladcor, a California-based manufacturer of LCD (liquid crystal display) and semi-conductor modules.