VOIP Service provider Otel Telecoms has tap former MTN manager Christopher Geerdts as COO (Chief Operations Officer).
“Chris has been specifically appointed as Otel’s COO to support the company during the current rapid growth phase that is finding expression in our national expansion. Chris’ ability to seamlessly integrate technology and business models will help further enhance Otel’s reputation as a leading independent telecoms provider,” Otel CEO Rad Jankovic said.
He added that OTEL is developing a multi-channel strategy and Chris has been brought on board to ensure the effective implementation of this strategy across OTEL’s distribution channels.
Geerdts has consulted to numerous local telecoms operators, although he is especially passionate about democratising access to broadband and voice services by leveraging economies of scale to empower independent telcos with world class solutions at affordable prices. He has expressed this passion during his terms as chairperson of the Wireless Access Providers Association (WAPA) where he was responsible for growing the non-profit organisation’s membership by 50% and championing the cause of rural connectivity with government and policy bodies.
The company said Geerdts was known as “Mr Data” in his 10-year stint at MTN, and was also a founder and CEO of Signet Information Systems and XConnect Southern Africa Telecoms.
“Attention to business and technology integration will help OTEL hugely in its national expansion drive. There’s already been considerable success in establishing a presence beyond Gauteng and I hope to build on that during 2016. In addition, broadening service offerings in order to provision the OTEL network for the next generation of telecoms solutions will be a key focus area,” said Geerdts.
OTEL’s wholesale and retail fibre solutions are designed to increase profitability and reduce downtime and include hosted PBX, free email, server hosting, cloud computing, as well as full-featured call centre solutions amongst other value-added voice and data services. The company is a licensed business-to-business provider of VoIP & broadband Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) solutions.
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