Tag Archives: Visafone

MTN appoints ex-Vodafone CEO as new boss

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MTN has hired former Vodafone Germany CEO Jens Schulte-Bockum as its new Chief Operating Officer, replacing Jyoti Desai, who is retiring.

Besides, the group has announced it is hiring BT Global Services sub-Saharan Africa CEO Oliver Fortuin as executive head of business enterprise and Bernice Samuels as group executive of marketing.

Schulte-Bockum will assume the position of group COO effective 16 January 2017. Schulte-Bockum was CEO of Vodafone Germany between 2012 and 2015.

“We expect Jens to bring extensive experience in the consumer business, as well as the area of large-scale transformation in a convergent operation,” MTN said in a statement to shareholders on Wednesday.

Fortuin, meanwhile, will join MTN on 1 March 2017 from BT Global Services. Fortuin has decades of ICT sector experience at companies such as IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Lenovo.

“As head of BT Global Services, Oliver was engaged in the development and sale of enterprise solutions to many multinationals across the African continent. Oliver will greatly enhance MTN’s strategy in this area,” MTN said.

Samuels, meanwhile, is a familiar face at MTN. She was previously chief marketing officer at MTN South Africa, prior to assuming a similar role at First National Bank. After leaving FNB, she was named executive director of strategy and business development at SABMiller in South Africa.

“These senior management appointments bring to finality the management aspect of a large-scale transformation and operational review process which I am confident will place the group in good stead to capitalise on its many prospects and reach its full potential in a rapidly transforming and exciting sector,” said MTN interim executive chairman Phuthuma Nhleko in the statement.

MTN Nigeria Acquires Visafone, Promises Boost In Broadband Quality

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MTN Nigeria on Thursday said that it has completed the acquisition of Visafone, the only surviving Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) network in Nigeria’s telecommunications industry.

 

MTN Executive, Ms Amina Oyagbola made this known in a statement in Lagos.

 

Oyagbola said that the acquisition of Visafone was in line with a continued commitment by MTN to improve the quality of broadband services for its subscribers.

 

She said that the acquisition, which sought to leverage resources for service enhancement, was also reflective of the company’s concerted efforts to deepen the growth and roll out of broadband services across the country.

 

According to her, the acquisition of the CDMA network is in support of the National Broadband Plan, for the benefit of Nigerians.

 

”We are committed to exploring avenues for meeting our customers’ increasing data needs in line with our vision ‘to lead the delivery of a bold new digital world to our customers’.

 

 

”As we work to maximise our data capabilities towards achieving broadband of international quality, our objective is to ensure that Nigerians experience a boost in the quality of broadband internet services.

 

”This will translate to the much needed enhanced data speeds and value to enhance personal and business productivity.

 

”The acquisition of Visafone highlights MTN’s commitment to Nigeria. More capacity will facilitate enhanced product/service offerings and experience in the data space to the delight of our valued customers.

 

”Voice is still King. However, data is becoming increasingly important in our everyday lives and our energies are focused on enhancing data and internet services to the benefit of our customers and the country at large,” she said.

 

 

NAN reports that Visafone is one of the leading CDMA/ICT companies in Nigeria, offering a number of services, which include voice, high speed data (3G), internet and other Value Added Services (VAS).

 

Visafone also provides business solutions to small and medium sized companies and corporate organisations in Nigeria.

 

NAN also gathered that over 2,000 employees of Visafone were disengaged with effect from Jan 5 and were paid three months salaries as severance package.

 

 

The only employees said to been left are those in the personnel and transmission departments.

 

 

(NAN)

MTN To Retrain Visafone Staff For 4GLTE Rollout

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There are fresh indications that a good number of staff of Visafone, the leading Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) mobile technology operator may not be sacked after all. This is because they will be re-trained to have the requisite skills for roll out of the new 4G LTE (Fourth Generation Long Term Evolution) technology in the country.

Visafone, which was acquired by telecommunication giants, MTN Nigeria, is expected to provide the GSM giant the robust voice and data platform of Visafone and cater for booming internet population of Nigeria. It was gathered that staff of Visafone are likely to commence the retraining immediately ahead of the launch of the new data service.

The aggressive launch of 4G LTE services by the merged entity of MTN and Visafone is also expected to drive the broadband penetration in the country from under 10 per cent now to the targeted 30 per cent by 2018 as per the national broadband plan of the Federal Government and help meet the national broadband plan targets.

Credit: Leadership