South Africa’s very own state-owned (partially, at least) telecommunications company, Telkom, will see a change in leadership soon. Its current CEO, Sipho Maseko has announced that he will step down from the position after nine years.
“The process to appoint a successor is well under way and a group CEO-designate will be announced in the not-too-distant future. Sipho would, for the remainder of his tenure, ensure the incoming group CEO-designate’s orderly transition into the role,” the company stated, according to TechCentral.
Telkom’s captain steps down
Hailed as the man who helped turn Telkom’s reputation around, Maseko joined the company in 2013, when Telkom was somewhat of a blasphemous word in many South African households. “The share price has more than tripled on his watch as he set about restructuring and streamlining the organisation to better compete in a liberalised telecoms market,” TechCentral reports.
“During his tenure, he turned the business around and evolved it from a traditional fixed business to a portfolio of businesses, which comprises the mobile, IT and wholesale infrastructure businesses, and the masts & towers portfolio,” Telkom said in a statement. “Under his leadership, the group has had many remarkable strategic achievements in its execution of its broadband-led strategy, which are reflected in the group’s current healthy position.”
“The mobile business grew to become the third-largest mobile business in South Africa with more than 15 million customers and generating R20 billion in revenue. The fibre footprint was expanded and the fixed customer base was migrated to new technologies (fibre and LTE). The number of homes connected with fibre now exceeds the number of homes connected with copper.”