Telkom has appointed Alphonzo Samuels as its new chief technology officer. The CTO role is a newly created position in the top management layer at the fixed-line operator.

Samuels joined the company in January 1984. During his 30-year tenure, he has held positions in the infrastructure, planning and engineering environments, Telkom says.

More recently, Samuels has taken care of the wholesale and networks portfolio as acting MD following the resignation last year of Bashier Sallie.

“His experience in both the wholesale division at Telkom as well as the network infrastructure division makes him the ideal candidate for the position,” Telkom says.

“In his new role as CTO, Alphonzo will continue the push to build an invincible network that is capable of meeting our rigorous high-speed broadband ambitions. He will assume responsibility for both the fixed and mobile networks,” group CEO Sipho Maseko says in a statement.

“He will also work closely with our transformation office to ensure the implementation of the functional separation of our wholesale and retail divisions,” Maseko adds.

“Alphonzo will focus on delivering Telkom’s next-generation network aspirations and leading the transformation towards an all-Internet protocol network.”

Prior to being named CTO, Alphonzo was managing executive for network infrastructure provisioning. Before that, he was group executive for wholesale and marketing operations.

Telkom has made a number of high-level appointments in recent months, including naming Len de Villiers as chief information officer, Enzo Scarcella as head of marketing and Ian Russell as head of procurement. — (c) 2014 NewsCentral Media