MTN fibre operator boss quits company
Supersonic managing director Megan Nicholas has left MTN, MyBroadband has learned.
She left the company around April 2023, and CFO Kabi Kolobe acted as managing director until July.
MTN-owned Supersonic operates a fibre-to-the-home network and offers fixed wireless access services called “Air Fibre” using technology developed by Tarana Wireless.
It is also an Internet service provider on open-access fibre networks like Vumatel, Openserve, Metrofibre, and Frogfoot.
MTN confirmed Nicholas’ departure, saying that she is pursuing a new opportunity.
It also revealed that Mweb’s former general manager for product, sales, and marketing, Carolyn Holgate, was hired as Supersonic’s new managing director, effective 1 July.
“Holgate is a seasoned sales, product, and marketing strategy executive with extensive experience in the technology and ICT industries, with a career spanning over 18 years, serving in various leadership roles,” MTN stated.
MTN acquired Supersonic’s precursor, Smart Village, in November 2016 for R220 million cash, with a deferred consideration of R12 million.
The deal expanded MTN’s fibre-to-the-home footprint. At the time, Smart Village had a fibre network that passed 22,000 homes — connecting roughly 7,000 homes in Gauteng, the Western Cape, and KwaZulu-Natal.
MTN rebranded the company in August 2018. Smart Village had developed a reputation as a substandard network with poor customer support prior to the acquisition.
MTN South Africa appointed Nicholas as managing director of Supersonic in January 2022 to drive the company’s plan to grow its market share in the residential market.
She replaced Calvin Collett, who left Supersonic in December 2021. He went on to launch mobile virtual network operator Melon Mobile in April of this year.
Collett was instrumental in growing Supersonic to become one of the largest fibre Internet service providers in South Africa.
Under Collett’s leadership, Supersonic won the 2019 MyBroadband ISP of the Year award and launched Air Fibre.
When Nicholas took up the role, MTN said it aimed to capture 30% market share across all broadband technologies through Supersonic by 2025.
Before joining Supersonic, Nicholas was the general manager for residential at MTN South Africa. Before that, she was general manager of MTN’s enterprise business unit.
She was at MTN for just under three years.
Nicholas came to MTN from Telkom, where she held three different executive roles over the span of seven years.
She was a sales executive, followed by managing executive for Telkom Business Mobile, and then managing executive for sales and distribution.
From November 2010 to February 2012, she was the country director for Motorola in South Africa.
Before Motorola, Nicholas oversaw corporate sales at Cell C for eight years. She began as a national corporate sales manager in 2002 and was promoted to executive head of commercial sales in 2007.
MyBroadband contacted Nicholas for comment. She did not respond by publication, but it is understood that she has just started a new position after taking a career break.
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