Knott-Craig and Uys to square off
Cell C announced on 19 January 2012 that it has appointed former Vodacom CEO Alan Knott-Craig as its new chief executive.
Knott-Craig was the founding CEO of Vodacom, and from 1993 to 2008 built the operator into one of the largest and most influential companies in South Africa.
Knott-Craig left Vodacom in mid-2008, paving the way for Pieter Uys to take over as the company’s head.
Knott-Craig was widely seen as grooming Uys – who is also a personal friend of Knott-Craig’s – for the Vodacom CEO position in the years before his resignation.
Knott-Craig and Uys will now be direct competitors, with the Cell C CEO trying to wrestle market share away from South Africa’s largest mobile operator, Vodacom.
Knott-Craig said that his appointment as Cell C CEO will not influence his relationship with Uys, adding that they will just have to be more careful about what they say when spending time together socially.
The new Cell C CEO also said that he will not actively try to poach some of his old Vodacom collogues – but did say that it would be nice if a few Vodacom execs decide to join him.
Uys said that he welcomes Knott-Craig back to the sector after an absence of 3 years. “I look forward to working together with him as well as the CEOs of the other operators to make a difference to telecoms in SA,” he said.
Uys would not comment on whether he is concerned that Vodacom will lose key staff members to Cell C with Knott-Craig as CEO.
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