Vodafone Share News (VOD)

(Sharecast News) - Vodafone Group announced on Monday that Vivek Badrinath would be appointed chief executive of its new European tower company, referred to as 'TowerCo', from 1 April 2020.
The FTSE 100 telecoms giant said that in line with its previous announcement in July, TowerCo would be legally separated into a new organisation and would become operational by May 2020, with a senior team in place by that time.

It explained that capturing the industrial benefits from network sharing, achieving operational efficiencies and pursuing monetisation opportunities for passive tower infrastructure were "key elements" of Vodafone's strategy to improve asset utilisation.

Vivek Badrinath is currently the chief executive of Vodafone's rest-of-world operations, and would bring with him "extensive" telecoms and technology leadership experience from his role at Vodafone and his previous roles at Orange, the board said, where he was deputy chief executive, and prior to that, led its global networks and operations division.

Before joining Vodafone, Badrinath was deputy chief executive of international hospitality group AccorHotels.

"I'm pleased that Vivek, one of our most experienced senior executives, will be leading our new tower business," said Vodafone chief executive officer Nick Read.

"We believe that there is significant scope to generate operational efficiencies and increase tenancy ratios across our tower portfolio, and that we will be able to unlock value for shareholders."

Vodafone also announced that it would simplify its management structure with the removal of the rest-of-world regional organisation, from the beginning of the 2021 financial year.

Following that reorganisation, Shameel Joosub - the chief executive of Vodacom Group - would be joining Vodafone's executive committee, from 1 April 2020.

"I look forward to welcoming Shameel to Vodafone's executive committee," Nick Read added.

"This appointment will streamline the management of our businesses and reflects the significance of Vodacom within the group.

"Shameel has led our African operations through a period of sustained growth and he will be an excellent addition to our senior team."

Shameel Joosub became chief executive of Vodacom Group in September 2012.

Prior to that, he was chief executive of Vodafone Spain, and before that, was the managing director of Vodacom South Africa.

Joosub is a member of Vodacom Group's board, and in August 2017, he was appointed a non-executive director and member of the audit committee of Safaricom - the Kenyan communications company.

As at 0920 GMT, shares in Vodafone were down 0.61% at 157.54p.