Telecoms16.08.2012

New Virgin Mobile SA CEO named

Virgin Mobile small

Virgin Mobile South Africa has appointed Jonathan Marchbank as the company’s new CEO.

Former chief executive, Steve Bailey stepped down from his post at the end of May.

The company recently became part of the larger ‘Virgin Mobile Middle East & Africa’ group (VMMEA), following a merger agreement with Friendi Group in June.

Marchbank most recently headed up the Virgin Mobile Middle East and Africa Group’s activities in Asia, prior to which, he served as the COO for Virgin Mobile USA.

Before that, Marchbank was the CEO of Virgin Mobile in Australia and Asia.

Prior to joining Virgin Mobile, Marchbank served as MD of Telstra’s mobile business in Australia, having spent the previous 10 years as Managing Director at Nokia and Philips in Asia and Australia.

“As the first Virgin Mobile business in the Africa / Middle East region, the success of Virgin Mobile South Africa is key to the newly formed Virgin Mobile Middle East and Africa Group. It is for this reason that we have elected to invest significant further funding into the South African business and have asked a CEO of Jonathan’s calibre to lead the company on an accelerated growth trajectory,” said Peter Langkilde, Chairman, Virgin Mobile, Middle East and Africa.

“I will spend the remainder of the year leading the planning and execution of our new go-to-market strategy, a process that is already well underway and which will re-energise the Virgin Mobile business and brand in South Africa with a view to strongly accelerating growth over the next few years,” Marchbank said.

Last month, Virgin Mobile SA said it would close 30 of its current 38 stores across the country, as part of a plan to revise its distribution footprint.

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