MTN appoints new CEO

MTN Group appointed Mteto Nyati to lead its South African business, promoting the former Microsoft Corp. executive to run the wireless carrier’s second-biggest unit.

Nyati succeeds Ahmad Farroukh at the Johannesburg-based carrier immediately, MTN said in a statement on Monday. Farroukh resigned last week to join Etihad Etisalat Co. as CEO, citing personal reasons, the company said at the time.

“The appointment of a leader of Nyati’s caliber and competencies will greatly enhance our efforts to strengthen the confidence of our customers and reinvigorate our people,” MTN CEO Sifiso Dabengwa said in the statement.

MTN, Africa’s largest wireless operator, has been battling strikes over pay and bonuses in its home market, where sales have declined because of competition and price cuts imposed by regulators. MTN’s biggest market by subscribers is Nigeria.

Nyati joined MTN last year as group chief enterprise officer. He was previously Microsoft’s managing director of the company’s South African business and general manager of the Middle East and Africa.