MTN Appoints Vodafone’s Rob Shuter Group CEO

MTN yesterday said Mr Rob Shuter, currently the chief executive of Vodafone European Cluster, has been chosen as the next president and chief executive officer of MTN Group.

This appointment follows the resolution of the hefty SIM card fine by the Nigerian regulator, the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) which led to the resignation of former heads of the telecom company both at the headquarters and at the Nigerian operation.

In the fine resolution, MTN Nigeria and the NCC agreed that the telecom firm would pay N330 billion over the next three years to resolve the initial N1.04 trillion fine for defaulting on deactivating 5.1 million unregistered SIM cards lines on October 22,2015.

Shuter, who is currently serving as chief executive of Vodafone’s European cluster, will join the South Africa-based company “as soon as it is practically possible from 2017,” but no later than July 1, next year, after he fulfils his contractual obligations,” MTN said in a statement.

Shuter , a South African national, has extensive experience in telecoms and banking, having held senior management roles at Vodacom Group, Standard Bank and Nedbank prior to joining Vodafone Group.

“MTN is confident that Rob will bring experience and new insights to the CEO role having had many years in the telecoms sector both in Africa and Europe as well as in banking where his expertise will help as MTN continues to develop its new business strategy,” it said.

Along with the appointment of Shuter, MTN also announced other new additions to its executive team, including Godfrey Motsa, who has been poached from Vodafone’s African subsidiary, Vodacom, to become its new vice president, South and East Africa.

A new vice president, Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) and Strategy, who will start in October, will also be announced at the end of this month.

The company further named new non-executive directors as part of a move to refresh its board.

“The MTN group board advises that following the successful resolution of the Nigerian dispute, it has completed the review of its governance and management structures in accordance with its undertaking to do so,” the company said.

Rob Shuter said: “I am honoured to have the opportunity and look forward to working with Phuthuma and the MTN Group board to ensure that we build on a strong foundation laid over the last 15-20 years for the Group to realise its full potential.”

Phuthuma Nhleko assumed the position of executive chairman on November 9, 2015, in order to resolve the very difficult challenges that the company experienced at the time. Given the appointment of Rob Shuter as Group president and CEO, Phuthuma will revert to his role as non-executive chairman as soon as Shuter assumes his new position .