Telstra's CTO has returned to America after just 21 months in the role, sparking speculation that he was sacked over the accuracy of his CV.

On Friday it emerged that Nandlall had left, with Telstra silent on why, but the carrier has no immediate plans for a replacement.

The Australian set the hounds running with a claim that his CV included a Harvard MBA that he didn't have. There was also an accusation that some presentation material had been plagiarised.

Nandlall responded that his biography is on LinkedIn and is accurate, and that his return to the USA is for “personal reasons”, according to CRN Australia.

Nandlall's prior roles certainly don't point to a history of CV-padding. After being CTO of Nortel Networks, he joined Extreme Networks, who certainly seemed pleased to welcome him aboard in 2009; he then joined Ericsson in North America.

Telstra put him in the CTO role in 2014, with long-time CTO Hugh Bradlow taking the newly-created position of chief scientist.

Telstra has deleted articles authored by Nandlall on its Exchange blog. ®