Former MTN group chief commercial officer Christian de Faria has been appointed as the new CEO of Bharti Airtel in Africa.
De Faria “retired” from MTN in January after six years with the telecommunications group.
According to a report in India’s Economic Times newspaper, Manoj Kohli, who has been looking after international operations for Bharti Airtel, will return to the company’s head office in India from Airtel’s Africa headquarters in Nairobi.
De Faria, whose appointment is effective from 1 January 2014, will join Airtel Africa on 16 September and will report to Kohli. He will take immediate charge of Anglophone operations and “commence an orientation encompassing Airtel Africa functions, Francophone and Nigeria regions”, the company said in a statement.
“Manoj has successfully embedded our business model and the Airtel brand in Africa, and will now provide governance oversight to the international operations and be involved with the group strategic matters,” Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said.
Kohli will continue to lead Airtel’s international operations. He will also lead “strategic issues”, including “in-market consolidation via mergers and acquisitions, key matters relating to tower companies, global partnerships, global sourcing from key partners and strategic regulatory aspects”.
Airtel has networks in 17 countries in Africa, including key markets like Nigeria and Kenya. It also operates mobile networks in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. — (c) 2013 NewsCentral Media