Nazareno among world’s top telco CEOs
Smart president and chief executive officer Napoleon Nazareno made it to the fi-nals for the CEO of the Year distinction of the World Communication Awards (WCA), considered one of the most prestigious awards programs in the global telecom industry which recognizes innovation and outstanding performance in the field.
Out of several nominations, WCA narrowed the choices to only 12 CEOs, including Timotheus Hoettges of Deutsche Telekom, Johan Dennelind of Telia Sonera, and Nasser Marafih of Ooredoo Qatar. Nazareno is the only CEO from Southeast Asia who made it to the final list of contenders.
The WCA is organized annually by London- based industry publication Total Telecom. WCA’s CEO of the Year will be named during an awarding ceremony to be held in London on Dec. 1.
Nazareno has been CEO of Smart since 2000, and assumed the same position in parent company PLDT in 2004. Under his leadership, Smart continues to be the number one mobile service provider in the Philippines. Smart and Sun Cellular, another wireless unit of PLDT, had 68.9 million subscribers by the end of the first half of 2015.
The PLDT Group under Nazareno estimates capital expenditures to hit a record P43 billion this year. Capex will beef up its access networks, expand fiber reach and capacity, and enhance coverage.
It will also fund initiatives to optimize the mobile network, augment network resiliency and redundancy, increase data center capacity, and integrate the Smart and Sun networks for operational efficiency.
These network initiatives will further strengthen the group’s capabilities of growing its digital services. Smart is offering a wide and growing array of music, video and other digital content and services to enable its subscribers to live the “Smart Life.”