ACTING Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for South Africa’s fixed line operator Telkom, will step down at the end of March, an official confirmed to our reporters on Friday.
There was no immediate comment as to why acting CEO Jeffrey Hedberg was unwilling to renew his contract when many in the telecommunications industry were expecting the incumbent to be confirmed substantive CEO.
In a question and answer interview on Friday, Telkom Group Communication and Brand Specialist, Pynee Chetty, confirmed that Hedberg will be stepping down.
“I confirm that Mr. Jeffrey Hedberg has decided not to renew his contract at the end of March this year. However, he remains committed to the Telkom team and all of the Company’s stakeholders until the end of his term,” said Chetty.
Hedberg was appointed Telkom’s acting group CEO in July last year when he took over from Reuben September, who in terms of his contract was supposed to leave in November 2010, but left abruptly at the beginning of July 2010.
Before becoming the acting CEO for Telkom, Hedberg was the CEO of Multi-Links in Nigeria, a Telkom subsidiary in Nigeria.
Hedberg was regarded as a leader capable of turning around the fortunes of Telkom following his success story with South Africa’s third largest mobile cellular network, Cell C during his tenure as CEO there.
Apart from holding numerous posts in the telecommunications industry, Hedberg was also the chairman of Virgin Mobile South Africa, where he rose to stardom in the telecoms sector.
By SAVIOUS KWINIKA
