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MTN has selected a new chief executive to replace Sifiso Dabengwa, who resigned last November after the Nigerian authorities imposed a massive fine on the telecommunications company.
The group said today that it had appointed Rob Shuter as its new chief executive.
However, Shuter will only join MTN next year and at the latest on July 1 2017.
“Rob, a South African national, is the current chief executive of the European cluster at Vodafone Group and has extensive experience in telecoms and banking having held senior management roles at Vodacom, Standard Bank and Nedbank prior to joining Vodafone,” MTN said in a statement.
“MTN is confident that Rob will bring experience and new insights to the chief executive role having had many years in the telecoms sector both in Africa and Europe as well as in banking where his expertise will help as MTN continues to develop its new business strategy,” the group added.
In October last year, the Nigerian Communication Commission hit MTN with a $5.2 billion (about R77 billion) fine for failing to disconnect more than five million unregistered SIMs on its network, while Dabengwa was in charge at the group.
However, earlier this month, MTN Nigeria and the government agreed to cut the fine to $1.671 billion, payable over three years.
Following Dabengwa’s departure, MTN former chief executive, Phuthuma Nhleko, took up the position of MTN head, under the role of acting executive chairperson.
MTN said that it was also going to appoint a new vice-president for mergers and acquisitions as well as strategy effective from October 1 as part of the group’s aim to develop new revenue streams.
“The appointee has a wealth of banking experience ... His name will be announced before June 30,” MTN said.
MTN also announced that it had appointed Godfrey Motsa as vice-president for south and east Africa. Motsa will join the company on July 1.
“Godfrey joins [MTN] from Vodacom where he was chief officer for consumer business. He brings 10 years of experience of telecoms in the region to MTN.”
The company also said it was in the process of refreshing its board with a view to improving its risk and governance profile.
At MTN Group, the company announced it had appointed Paul Hanratty, an Old Mutual executive; Stan Miller, who was part of the M-Net founding management team; and Nkululeko Sowazi, a South African businessperson. At MTN South Africa, four new board members were announced.
MTN said Nhleko would remain MTN chairperson for the next two-and-a-half years, when he plans to step down.
The news of the appointments caused MTN shares to fall by almost 1%, which company valued at almost R268 billion.
