MTN Group CEO to resign

Rob Shuter, the CEO of South African telco MTN Group, has announced that he will step down in March 2021.

MTN Group, the largest operator in the country in terms of subscribers, said that it will find a successor in 2020 and that Shuter will help to enable “a seamless handover.”

A statement from the operator said that the company “thanks Rob for the contribution he has made and continues to make.”

Shuter joined the company in 2017 from Vodafone Europe. He replaced Sifiso Dabengwa who resigned after the Nigerian government fined MTN Group US$1.7 billion for failing to deactivate unregistered users.

The CEO overhauled the telco’s governance structure and has been leading a strategic revamp of its operations.

The announcement came alongside MTN Group’s annual results. Its revenue rose by 9.7% and its service revenue grew by 9.8%.

Over the year the group added 18 million customers to reach a total of 251 million. Its data users increased by 17 million to 95 million while its fintech customers increased by 7 million to 35 million.

Looking ahead, Shuter said: “We are well positioned for growth. Guided by our well-defined Bright strategy, we are building our growth strategy on our digital operator model while optimising efficiencies, capex and cashflow.

“Inspired to harness the pioneering spirit that has built MTN over the last 25 years, we remain committed to delivering on our strategy in a more agile way in close collaboration with our many partners, with whom we are #GoodTogether.”