Altech Autopage MD Boyd Chislett has tendered his resignation and will leave the cellular service provider, and the Altron group, at the end of March.
Chislett confirmed to TechCentral via telephone on Tuesday that he is stepping down and intends taking a break for a few months while exploring new opportunities in the information and communications technology sector.
He has been Autopage MD since 2010. Before that, he worked at MTN as GM for service providers.
Chislett has been overseeing the planned sale of Autopage’s subscriber bases to the country’s three main mobile operators and managing the competition authorities’ approval processes.
He said he expects the authorities to give the final go-ahead for the transactions soon after the next hearing, scheduled for the second week in February at the Competition Commission in Pretoria.
In September, Autopage parent Altron announced it would sell Autopage’s subscribers to Vodacom, MTN and Cell C for R1,5bn.
The commission recommended the deal be approved without conditions, but the matter was referred back to it by the Competition Tribunal in December following a complaint by a telecoms company called Saicom Holdings.
“It became clear during the hearing that the Competition Commission had not spoken to certain clusters of customers that may be affected by the proposed deal,” the tribunal said in a statement at the time. It tasked the commission with submitting a supplementary report to it by 29 January.
“The commission will investigate whether there was prior implementation of the transaction, as alleged by Saicom,” the tribunal said.
Chislett said he is pleased with the progress that has been made since then and is confident the transaction will receive the necessary approvals.
He said the past year has been tough for everyone at Autopage and, with the closure of the business looming, he felt it was the right time to step aside from the group.
He will oversee the year-end results to 29 February and help conclude the business winding-up process before leaving.
“By the end of March, the task will largely be concluded,” he said. — © 2016 NewsCentral Media
