Sunday, May 20, 2012
(This story was originally published Thursday)
DUBAI (Zawya Dow Jones)--In a push for more efficiency, majority state-owned Telecom Egypt, the only provider of fixed-line services in the country, has halved the size of its executive management team to just six members.
"Over the course of the last 12 months there have been six departures from the executive Management team, primarily as a result of retirement. These posts will now not be replaced and instead responsibilities will be redistributed across the remaining vice president posts," the telco said in a statement posted on its website.
Tarek Aboualam, Telecom Egypt's chief executive officer, said the he is "confident the change will offer us greater agility and operational efficiency".
The company earlier this week said cost cutting and a surge in broadband subscribers helped it post a 1.7% rise in first-quarter net profit.
Analysts welcomed Thursday the changes to Telecom Egypt's executive team.
"I think Aboualam came to Telecom Egypt with a new strategy to meet the employees' demand in restructuring salaries and restructuring management to ensure fair treatment for all employees," said Mohamed Hamdy, a telecoms analyst at CI Capital. "This strategy along with the redistribution of responsibilities will increase the operational efficiency and will likely cope with the market requirements and developments. This would eventually be reflected positively on the company's profitability margins."
Telecom Egypt shares last traded down 0.8% at EGP12.80.
-By Shereen El Gazzar, Dow Jones Newswires; +971 444 61684; Shereen.elgazzar@dowjones.com
Copyright (c) 2012 Dow Jones & Co.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
20-05-12 0346GMT
