Browsing: Multi-Links

The launch of mobile operator 8ta and a wage agreement with trade unions will hit Telkom’s earnings in the six months to 30 September 2010, the JSE-listed telecommunications group has warned.

Could former SABC CEO Dali Mpofu or former Vodacom CEO Alan Knott-Craig be approached to take the reins at listed telecommunications group Telkom? Mpofu and Knott-Craig are two of the high-profile people external to Telkom whose names have been linked to the job in recent weeks.

JSE-listed Blue Label Telecoms says a controversial contract signed with Telkom’s ailing Nigerian operation, Multi-Links, is being reviewed. Blue Label co-CEO Mark Levy says the contract has reached its annual review time, and the company is willing to make some concessions to help save the troubled Multi-Links.

Telkom is trying urgently to renegotiate multiple contracts entered into by its troubled Nigerian subsidiary Multi-Links. If it can’t reach new agreements with the suppliers, Multi-Links could be forced to shut up shop. That’s the stark warning from Telkom acting CEO Jeffrey Hedberg, who had been running the Nigerian business until a few weeks ago, when he was called on by Telkom’s board to head up the group following the premature departure of former CEO Reuben September.

Vincent Raseroka has been appointed as acting CEO of Multi-Links, Telkom’s deeply troubled operation in Nigeria. Raseroka will hold the post while the telecommunications group searches for someone to replace Jeffrey Hedberg, who has been appointed as Telkom CEO, replacing Reuben September. Raseroka, who had been Multi-Links’s chief operating officer, takes over with immediate effect. He was previously CEO of SAA technical and held various executive positions at packaging business Nampak.

Former Cell C CEO, American national Jeffrey Hedberg, has been appointed to lead Telkom as group CEO in an acting capacity following a decision by Reuben September to end his contract early. September, who has been expected to leave Telkom in November, has elected to leave now. Senior sources at Telkom say developments in recent weeks, in which the board decided not to renew his contract, have taken a toll on September’s health.

Telecommunications group Telkom disconnected 178 000 fixed lines in the past 12 months, dragging down the number of fixed lines in service as a percentage of the country’s population to just 8,7%. Between March 2009 and March 2010, the number of fixed lines in use declined by 4%, from 4,45m to 4,27m as the economic downturn put pressure on

Politics. That may be the real reason Telkom CEO Reuben September’s contract is not being renewed when it expires in November. According to well-placed sources, he’s had a troubled relationship with the ANC under President Jacob Zuma after he oversaw the disposal of Telkom’s 50% stake in Vodacom. To understand the background, one has to go back to May