Nhleko a pillar for MTN

AS MTN Group battles to reduce a record $5.2bn fine in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest cellphone company is following in the footsteps of Apple and Dell and turning to the person who brought it the most success: a former boss.

Phuthuma Nhleko, who turned MTN from a small South African wireless carrier into a telecommunications giant with customers in 22 countries, is back at the helm after CEO Sifiso Dabengwa, 57, resigned at the weekend. The question is: can he recreate the old magic?

“The company brand has taken quite a beating, so changing the man at the top would definitely help,” Manji Cheto, a London-based Nigeria expert with Teneo Intelligence, said on Monday.

“There is room to negotiate, but I don’t think the fine is going to go away. It could well be in the billions.”

Mr Nhleko, 55, agreed to switch from nonexecutive to executive chairman for a maximum of six months after Mr Dabengwa took responsibility for the fine and resigned.

MTN’s CEO for almost nine years until 2011, he will negotiate with the Nigerian Communications Commission to reduce the fine, imposed for missing a deadline to disconnect subscribers with unregistered SIM cards.

He told Radio 702 on Monday he planned to resolve the matter within two weeks.

MTN has until Monday to pay the fine, calculated as $1,005 for each of the 5.1-million unregistered subscribers MTN did not disconnect in time.

The stock is down about 19% since the fine was made public two weeks ago, valuing the firm at R286bn.

Under Mr Nhleko, the shares gained more than 1,000%.