MTN appoints Vodafone Europe head as new CEO

MTN, Africa’s biggest mobile- phone operator has appointed Rob Shuter as the group president and chief executive officer.

Rob, a South African national ,joins the telecom from Vodafone Europe where he was the head.

The appointment is viewed as a step toward overhauling the company’s governance standards while looking for new revenue streams as the market becomes more competitive.

The news sent MTN shares rising to as high as 151.70 rand in early trading at the JSE , before settling at 143.30 rand.

Earlier this month, MTN agreed to pay a reduced fine of 330 billion naira an estimated $1.7 billion, in a settlement with Nigerian authorities, over failure to disconnect 5.1 million unregistered mobile phone users in the country.

However, Nigeria’s senate on Monday accused the government of short changing the country by reducing the fine.

Nigeria is MTN biggest market with over 60 million subscribers.