MTN appoints new CEO
MTN Group on Monday said it had appointed Rob Shuter, the chief executive of the European cluster at Vodafone Group, as group president and chief executive after successfully resolving the dispute over a fine imposed by Nigerian authorities.
"Rob may commence as soon as it is practically possible to in 2017 but not later than 1 July 2017 after the completion of his current contractual obligations," MTN said in a statement on Monday.
Shuter, a South African, has previously held senior management roles at Vodacom, Standard Bank and Nedbank.
MTN said it was "confident that Rob would 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 statement said Phuthuma Nhleko, who stepped up as executive chairman on November 9 "in order to resolve the very difficult challenges that the company experienced at the time”, would revert to his role as non executive chairman as soon as was practical after Shuter was in place.
Nhleko was quoted as saying: "I am confident that with the calibre of Rob Shuter as CEO, the group will resume its path to playing its rightful role in increasing connectivity and accelerating convergence across Africa and the Middle East.”
Shuter said he looked forward to working with Nhleko and the MTN board to ensure that "we build on a strong foundation laid over the last 15 to 20 years for the group to realise its full potential".