Walid Irshaid, current President and CEO of PTCL, is going to be the Group CEO of Ufone and PTCL – confirmed us a source close to the situation.

This move came shortly after Mr. Saoud Abdulaziz Bin Hadef Al Shamsi’s appointment as Deputy CEO, Ufone, who is directly reporting to Mr. Abdul Aziz, President & CEO.

However, now Mr. Abdul Aziz will report to Walid Irshaid, being the group CEO. On other hands, as per another company source has confirmed us that Abdul Aziz’s tenure has been extended before it was going to end in December 2009.

When contacted Ufone’s spokesperson regarding this, he wasn’t aware of any such development.

Etisalat is reportedly directly responsible for the current move, and it is carried out to control Ufone in better way, while keeping Pakistani management out of the way.

Being headed by one CEO, both Ufone and PTCL are going to witness no other collaboration/unification in all other departments.

Such reshuffling in senior management level at Ufone is not comprehendible at all, especially when Ufone is doing so well in terms of performance and the return. Experts opine this not a good move at all, especially eying PTCL’s performance in recent months.

This move can be an indication of Etisalat’s plans of hiking its stakes in PTCL.