Abbad Reda appointed new MTN Zambia CEO

MTN Group has announced a new CEO for its Zambian operation, with Abbad Reda taking over from current CEO Bart Hofker on May 1, 2023.

Reda joined MTN Group in 2002 and has held several senior positions, including chief information officer for MTN Ghana, CEO for MTN Liberia, and is currently the CEO of MTN Afghanistan.

MTN Group's president and CEO, Ralph Mupita, said that Reda will add immense value to the Zambian market.

"He will continue to support MTN Afghanistan, where he has been managing matters related to MTN's orderly exit of the country. With over two decades of experience and a proven track record in driving growth, Abbad is well-equipped to lead MTN Zambia into its next phase of growth and development. I am confident that Abbad will build on the solid foundation laid by his predecessor and take the business to new heights," Mupita said.

Ralph Mupita, MTN Group president and CEO. (Source: MTN Group)

MTN called Hofker "an invaluable asset to the organization" and said he was leaving MTN after seven years to pursue other ventures.

Hofker was appointed CEO in Zambia in September 2019 after previously serving as MTN Rwanda CEO.

Reda holds an Executive MBA from CEIBS and a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer and Communication Engineering. He has also participated in MTN's Global Advancement Program (GAP).

MTN said that with more than 20 years of experience, Reda has successfully delivered market share, revenue and profit growth for the network.

In November 2022, MTN officially rolled out its 5G network in Zambia, becoming the first mobile operator in the country to offer 5G services commercially, after it had been trialing 5G since January 2022.

SIM card registration rules in Zambia contributed to a drop in the number of active mobile phone subscriptions in Zambia in 2022. A March 2023 report from the Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) showed that subscriptions fell by 2% to 19.8 million at the end of 2022, from 20.2 million in 2021.

Afghanistan exit strategy

At the MTN Group results presentation in March 2023 Mupita said that the group was moving forward with plans to sell its Afghanistan business to Beirut-based M1 New Ventures for US$35 million. He said the group had signed a share purchase agreement with M1 and was just waiting for regulatory approvals as well as a transition agreement.

In August 2020, MTN announced its "orderly exit" out of the Middle East.

MTN had originally planned to sell the Syrian operation first, but later decided to abandon its telecoms operation in Syria in August 2021, saying that the regulatory actions and demands in Syria had made operating in the country "untenable."

This after its Syrian business was placed under judicial guardianship in February 2021.

The Yemen business, meanwhile, was sold in November 2021 to the group's minority shareholders in the country.

After the Afghanistan deal is finalized the only Middle Eastern operation left will be MTN's joint venture in Iran, MTN Irancell, of which it owns 49%.

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*Top image is of incoming MTN Zambia CEO, Abbad Reda. (Source: MTN Group).

— Paula Gilbert, Editor, Connecting Africa