Vodacom CEO, Shameel Joosub, says that the company will not get distracted by the woes of its biggest competitor, MTN.<\/p>\n
The fortunes of the company heads of MTN and Vodacom could not have been more stark on Monday morning. Joosub delivered stellar interim results, while MTN pushed out a statement<\/a> announcing that MTN chief executive, Sifiso Dabengwa, had decided to step down amid ‘unfortunate prevailing circumstances occurring at MTN Nigeria’.<\/p>\n “MTN is a strong company – it will come back,” said Joosub in a conference call on Monday, in which he highlighted a 7.8% rise in operating profit to R10.2 billion for the six months ended September 2015.<\/p>\n “They will recover from it,” Joosub said of MTN’s plight in Nigeria.<\/p>\n “They will negotiate a better settlement,” Vodacom’s chief said of a $5.2 billion (R71 billion) fine imposed on MTN Group by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) at the end of last month.<\/p>\n The fine relates to the timing of the disconnection of 5.1 million MTN Nigeria subscribers who were disconnected in August and September 2015 and is based on a fine of N200,000 for each unregistered subscriber.<\/p>\n The resignation of MTN group chief executive officer Sifiso Dabengwa is a \u201closs to the industry\u201d, Joosub told News24. \u201cI think Sifiso is a stalwart of the industry, and obviously he’s had a lot of success over the years.”<\/p>\n Asked whether the problems MTN are experiencing in Nigeria were benefiting Vodacom in any way from a competitive viewpoint, Joosub said: “No, I don’t think so. I think for me it’s more important that we’re consistently executing our strategy, and we don’t really focus too much on what’s going on outside there.\u201d<\/p>\n “Obviously, you have to be cognisant of what your competitors are doing, but I think you have to really execute very well on your plan,\u201d Joosub said.<\/p>\n “One mustn’t get distracted ,” Joosub said.<\/p>\n MTN finally speaks out about Nigeria fine<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n JSE to investigate MTN for possible insider trading<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n CEO resignation is not an admission of guilt: MTN<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nMore on Vodacom and MTN<\/h3>\n