Roshi Motman named CEO as Tigo, Airtel complete Ghana merger
Shareholders of the merger between Tigo and Airtel have named General Manager of Tigo Ghana, Roshi Motman as the Chief Executive Officer of the merged company, which is yet to be given a unique name.
This was contained in a statement issued by Tigo Ghana announcing that it had finally completed the merger transaction with Airtel in Ghana.
The merger was first announced March 3, 2017 and took six months for the National Communications Authority (NCA) to give final approval.
The successful closing of transaction will see both companies hold equal ownership and governance rights in the combined entity, with Motman steering affairs, while Airtel Ghana CEO, Lucy Quist bows out.
The Airtel-Tigo merged entity in Ghana will be the second largest mobile network operator in the country, with about 10 million customers, pushing Vodafone to third place with about nine million customers.
“It is envisaged that the combined business will offer improved coverage and better quality of service to customers in both urban and rural Ghana, enabling wider access to communication solutions for businesses and mobile financial services to the Ghanaian customers,” the statement said.
The Tigo-Airtel merged company has already declared its intention to put the market leader, MTN on its toes and drive improved services.
It said: “Through an efficient delivery of superior customer experience, high speed data, innovative product mix and wider network coverage the new combined business will challenge the market leader, improve the competitive dynamics of the telecoms sector and in the long-term, strengthen the mobile ecosystem.”
Meanwhile, the approved merger comes with conditions, which include the fact that the two would have to run parallel networks and merge gradually as they go along over a period of 18 months.
They are also mandated to draft an extensive customer education programme to ensure they sensitize customers about every change that is likely to affect customers.
The regulator expects that the merger would have no or very little negative implications for customers.
It is also important to note that customers of both networks get to keep their 026/056 and 027/057 numbers until such as time when any changes will be announced.
The shareholders of Tigo and Airtel are Millicom International Cellular S.A. (“Millicom”) and Bharti Airtel Limited (“Airtel”) respectively.
By Samuel Dowuona