MTN Group: Irancell’s Moolman ‘heads for Nigeria’

Africa’s largest wireless operator, MTN Group, had appointed Ferdi Moolman as chief financial officer of its Nigeria operations, said a person familiar with the matter, adding that he would leave his post as chief operating officer of MTN Irancell in Iran shortly. Former Nigeria chief financial officer Andrew Bing left the company last month. MTN spokesman Silvanus Khameli said he could not comment yesterday. Funmilayo Onajide, a spokeswoman for MTN Nigeria, declined to comment. MTN, which owns 49 percent of Irancell, is being sued for a second time by Turkcell, Turkey’s biggest cellphone operator, over the award of a mobile licence in Iran in 2005. In Nigeria, MTN’s 57.2 million subscribers may face higher prices if the government proceeds with a plan to revalue MTN’s phone spectrum and to have conditions such as improving service and infrastructure written into contracts. Shares fell 0.79 percent to close at R225.20 yesterday. – Bloomberg