TeliaSonera appoints Vodacom Int CEO

 ·18 Jun 2013
Johan Dennelind

Swedish operator TeliaSonera has appointed former CEO of Vodacom International, Johan Dennelind, to the position of president and CEO.

Chief operating officer of Vodacom’s International operations, Romeo Kumalo has taken over Dennelind’s portfolio, Vodacom said.

Dennelind announced his intention to resign from Vodacom in December 2012, to take up the position as CEO of a Malaysian mobile operator, Maxis in July. His notice period at Vodacom took him up to June.

However, in May, Maxis announced Dennelind was unable to assume his new role, owing to recent personal family circumstances.

Dennelind will take up his new position on September 1, 2013 and will be available for the company from July 1, 2013.

Per-Arne Blomquist will remain as acting CEO until September 1 and then return to his role as executive vice president and CFO of TeliaSonera, the group said in a statement.

“The search criteria for the new candidate has been strong; extensive leadership skills, experience of developing international corporations in emerging markets as well as a broad knowledge from the telecommunication industry,” Telia said.

“Johan Dennelind brings with him almost 20 years of experience from the telecommunication industry and has during his time at Telenor and most recently at Vodacom proven that he can successfully lead organizations in significant change processes within an international environment,” TeliaSonera’s Chairman, Marie Ehrling.

With operations in Azerbaijan, Denmark , Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Nepal, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Tajikistan, Turkey and Uzbekistan, Telia boasts 182.1 million subscriptions (Q1, 2013).

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