Telkom gets ‘ruthless’

Telkom CEO Sipho Maseko said yesterday that the newly-appointed CEO of Gyro Group, the operator’s property management business, Lesiba Maloba, has been tasked with “ruthless execution” in commercialising the group’s property portfolio.

Gyro was established in April to “unlock value by commercialising the Telkom group’s property portfolio, extract value from excess building capacity and diversify income streams through property development, masts and towers, and property management services”.

Maloba’s appointment as CEO is effective from Monday. “I have every confidence in his capability and expertise,” Maseko stated.

It represents a significant expansion of Telkom’s decision, two years ago, to spin off its wholesale business into a new company, Openserve

In June, Maseko announced that Telkom was being restructured into a new holding group — which will have a new name — with at least five subsidiary businesses in fields as wide-ranging as wholesale telecoms and property asset management.

The new holding company will be something like Remgro, which has investments in a range of industries, Maseko said at the time. It will be a “strategic shareholder”, with each subsidiary freed to “pursue its growth agenda as independently as possible”.

Maseko said by the end of Telkom’s current financial year – March 31, 2018 – the group should be made up of five businesses: retail telecoms entity Telkom, IT services business BCX, wholesale arm Openserve, e-commerce/online business Trudon and property management company Gyro.

Own P&L accounts

“These companies will be held by one owner, called ‘X’, which will exercise 100% control and ownership,” Maseko said. “As separately managed entities with their own profit and loss accounts, the companies will be empowered to make decisions that help them grow, and won’t be held back because their decisions might not suit other entities within the group.” – TechCentral