Saudi Telecom appoints Khaled al-Ghoneim as new group CEO

Saudi Telecom appoints Khaled al-Ghoneim as new group CEO

Saudi Telecom Co, the Gulf's No.1 telecoms operator, has appointed Khaled al-Ghoneim as group executive, the former monopoly said on Wednesday.

June 6, 2012 7:06 by Reuters

Saudi Telecom Co, the Gulf’s No.1 telecoms operator, has appointed Khaled al-Ghoneim as group executive, the former monopoly said on Wednesday.

Ghoneim will take up his new post on June 18, replacing Saud al-Daweesh, who resigned in April. At the time, STC said Daweesh would remain at the helm until October, but the company has appointed his successor sooner than expected.

“Saudi Telecom announces that its board, during its assembly on June 5, agreed to the appointment ofKhaled Al-Ghoneim as CEO of the group,” STC said in a statement to the Saudi bourse.

STC is the largest Gulf telecoms operator by market value with operations across the Muslim world fromTurkey to Indonesia.

The firm, which remains majority government-owned nearly a decade after its partial privatisation, reported a 60 percent surge in first-quarter profit in April as rising domestic demand for broadband and data helped boost earnings.

(Reporting by Joseph Logan,; Writing by Matt Smith; editing by Dinesh Nair)