Alan Knott-Craig, new CEO of Cell C is one of the pioneers of Africa’s mobile telecommunications, and recognised as a leading innovator in the region’s business world.
He started his career in telecoms as Director of
Telematics in 1989. He then moved to South Africa’s incumbent operator Telkom as Senior General Manager for Mobile Communications in 1992, at
the beginning of the development of cellular technology.
He became the first Managing Director of Vodacom Pty as
the company launched its mobile operation in 1993 and became Chief Executive
Officer of Vodacom (Proprietary) Limited in 1996, a position he kept until
2008. During this time he built the company into a 33 million customer operator
in 5 countries across Africa: the home market of South Africa, as well as Tanzania,
the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Mozambique and Lesotho.
After a 3-year break from the world of telecommunications,
during which he was a non-executive director of NedbankLimited, he joined South Africa’s 3rd operator Cell C as its new CEO
in 2012. Since then Cell C has embarked on a radical move to challenge the
position of market leaders Vodacom and MTN: cuts in prepaid tariffs,
cost-efficiency initiatives and network improvements financed by a $180 million cash injection from its majority
shareholder Oger Telecom.
Alan Knott-Craig will give a keynote speech at
AfricaCom on Wednesday 14th November, sharing his vision of how the communications
market is transforming.
