Rob Shuter to Step Down as CEO and President of MTN Group in 2021 After 5 Years of Calling the Shots

The current Chief Executive Officer and President of MTN Group, Rob Shuter is going to step down at the end of his contract in March 2021.

The telecom giants announced Mr Shuter’s impending departure from the group during the release of its financial results for the year 2019.

The group thanked Shuter for his contribution and revealed that the succession process will be concluded this year.

“The board thanks Rob for the contribution he has made and continues to make, to MTN. The succession process will be concluded during the year, enabling a seamless handover.”

MTN Group

Rob Shuter raised MTN subscribers in Africa to over 243.7 million

Before Shuter was appointed CEO of MTN in 2016, he served as the CEO of the European cluster at the Vodafone Group.

However, he didn’t take over as CEO of MTN until 2017. As the CEO of MTN, Shuter leveraged his extensive experience in telecoms to raise MTN to new heights in Africa.

Under his stewardship, MTN added more than 18 million subscribers in Africa. The number of subscribers rose from 232.6 million in June 2016 to 243.7 million in 2019. In Nigeria, MTN currently has about 70 million subscribers.

Similarly, the total number of data users increased by 17 million to about 95 million. MTN also launched its mobile money platform MoMo in Nigeria and raised its number of fintech customers by seven million to 35 million.

Shuter resolved MTN regulatory woes in Nigeria

Just before the resignation of Mr Shuter’s predecessor, Sifiso Dabengwa, MTN was fined about N1.9 trillion ($5.2 billion) by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for failing to disconnect 5.1 million unregistered SIM cards.

However, under Shuter’s leadership, the company was able to negotiate the fine to about N330 million. The fine was paid over six installments and was completely redeemed last year.

Also, the Nigerian attorney general (AGF) recently dropped the $2 billion tax claim he filed against MTN in the country.

Another notable achievement by MTN in Nigeria is the listing of MTN Nigeria on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in May 2019.

Apart from the looming end of Shuter’s tenure as MTN CEO, the company also announced the appointment of MTN group chief technology and IT officer, Charles Molapisi to the group executive committee. It also extended the contract of Jens Schulte-Bockum as group chief operations officer until 31 March 2022.

However, the telecom giants have not yet disclosed Rob shutter’s successor as CEO and President when he eventually steps down in March 2021.