Johannesburg - Industry analysts and labour unions yesterday welcomed the appointment and experience of Rob Shuter as the new chief executive of MTN Group, as the firm battled to recover its credibility following the reputational blow dealt by the Nigerian fine.
Shuter will take over from Sifiso Dabengwa next July.
MTN shares declined 0.25 percent on the JSE yesterday to close at R144.26.
In announcing Shuter’s appointment, MTN said: “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.”
Dabengwa resigned in November after Nigerian authorities originally fined the telecoms company $5.2 billion (R78.7bn at yesterday’s rate), for failing to disconnect more than 5 million unregistered SIM cards on its network. The October fine by the Nigerian Communication Commission has since been reduced to $1.67bn after MTN Nigeria and the government agreed on this new settlement.
MTN also announced that Phuthuma Nhleko, who has been the acting executive chairman since Dabengwa’s departure, would remain the chairman for the next two-and-a-half years, when he planned to step down.
Peter Takaendesa, a portfolio manager at Mergence Investment Managers, said: “Shuter is well known to South African telecoms investors and had a very good following when he was chief financial officer of Vodacom until 2012. We think he is the right man for the job.“
Takaendesa said: “In addition, we believe some of MTN’s recent problems have been a result of weaker execution and Rob has been working in an organisation referenced as one of the benchmarks for best execution and corporate governance.
“We believe Rob and the other new appointments will significantly strengthen MTN’s leadership, as well as its market position mid-long term.”
MTN said it had also “resolved to refresh the board, deepening the commercial experience on both the group and MTN SA boards with a view to improving the risk and governance profile of the group”.
Joining the MTN board are: Godfrey Motsa as the vice-president for south and east Africa. Motsa will join the company on July 1, as well as Paul Hanratty, Stan Miller and businessman Nkululeko Sowazi.
The group also said that it would also appoint a new vice-president for mergers and acquisitions effective from October 1 as part of its aim to develop new revenue streams.
“The appointee has a wealth of banking experience. His name will be announced before June 30,” MTN said.
Trade union Solidarity has also supported the appointment of Shuter.
Spokeswoman Inge Strydom said: “Even though Solidarity does not know Rob Shuter that well except that he previously worked for Vodafone, we welcome his appointment and hope that he will be able to bring about stability at MTN.”
Aubrey Tshabalala, the Communications Workers’ Union general secretary said it was too early for them to comment about Shuter’s appointment. “We are meeting MTN later today… and we hope he will do a good job, not only for the company but the workers as well,” he said.
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