PTCL has announced Mr. Rashid Khan as its new CEO, said an announcement shared with Pakistan Stock Exchange.
Announcement confirmed that Mr. Daniel Ritz, outgoing CEO of PTCL, will be stepping down from his position and Mr. Rashid Khan will be replacing him as the Chief Executive of the company.
Decision was made during a PTCL board meeting held earlier today.
If sources are to be believed, Mr. Rashid Khan, who is also the CEO of Ufone, will continue to remain the CEO of Ufone as well. However, a decision on this will be made during a Ufone board meeting.
This essentially means that Mr. Rashid Khan could be announced as the group CEO of PTCL and Ufone, a shift in how both the companies were run previously.
Etisalat has long been working on integrating both the PTCL and Ufone to reap synergies, and the move is apparently going to help Etisalat in achieving the goal.
While a complete (Jazz-Warid like) merger is not a choice, due to different nature of business, both the companies have combined several departments and functions already.
Not to mention, PTCL has scheduled a briefing for later today to share financial results and other major announcements with the media.
Update
PTCL has officially confirmed the development. In a statement shared with media, the company said that Dr. Daniel Ritz decided to leave PTCL for personal reasons upon completion of his 3-year contract on March 1, 2019, in order to re-unite with his family in Europe.
It added that the PTCL Board of Directors at its meeting today has appointed Rashid Khan, currently CEO of Ufone, to the post of CEO PTCL effective March 2, 2019, with an additional charge of CEO Ufone.
Dr. Ritz was quoted as saying, “It has been a privilege and an honor to lead PTCL and the PTCL Group through a period of significant transformation. I am proud of what we have achieved as a team and the results announced today with PTCL returning to top line growth for the first time after several years of revenue decline are a testimony to this.” The PTCL Board of Directors thanked Dr. Ritz for his exemplary leadership in the past three years and the associated business results. His decision to return to Europe to re-unite with his family is understandable.
Hatem Dowidar, CEO Etisalat International, commented, “Daniel has taken the helm of the company at a critical time where he has succeeded in laying the foundation for a future network, providing ultra-fast broadband to many areas with the biggest network modernization of PTCL in its history. Additionally, PTCL under his leadership, became active in Cloud computing, data centres and pushing forward the Digital Pakistan agenda”. Maroof Azfal, Chairman PTCL, added, “On behalf of Government of Pakistan, I would like to thank Daniel sincerely for his personal leadership and achievements in putting PTCL, an important national asset, back on the growth track.
