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Kenya: Press Releases: Airtel Appoint John Barorot as New Network Director |
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Tuesday, 17 May 2011 |
Nairobi, 17 May 2011 --- Airtel today announced the appointment of John Barorot as its new Network Director. John was the immediate past Chief Technical Officer of its rival Safaricom where he worked for over ten years rising from the position of Network Maintenance Manager in 2000. John is widely credited with spearheading the successful development of the overall operation and planning of Safaricom cellular network rollout, network quality improvement and information technology. He was also in charge of the financial planning and technology strategy formulation for the division Network and Information Technology Division of Safaricom which including the functions of Planning and Engineering, Network Implementation, Network Maintenance, Information Technology, Billing and Technical support and Network Quality.
The Managing Director Mr. Rene Meza said: “John brings true leadership and management expertise to Airtel. We are really pleased to welcome him on board as he takes over the leadership of our technical services and network development to the next level, including our preparations for the launch of our 3G service in Kenya.” He added that John will work hand in hand with the outgoing Network Director Alec Mulonga during the handing over period over the next three months. “Alec has decided to take up a new career challenge outside airtel back in his home country in Zambia having been away from home on international assignments over the last four years,” Mr. Meza explained. John has received major awards and recognition for his contribution to the development of the telecoms industry in Kenya including a Presidential Award of The Moran of The Burning Spear Award (MBS) in the 2011. He is also credited with developing a Kenyan technical team of engineers at Safaricom and the development of local industry partnerships with Kenya companies especially in services area of cellular communication. He led the introduction of new products and services and technologies at Safaricom including General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), 3G, High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA).
He has also led and promoted the faster network rollout and optimization, the introduction of the Safaricom Network Management Centre, introducing the use of Umbrella Network Management System and various network quality tools and software implementation while empowering local engineers and managers to take up responsibilities while continuously optimizing network operational costs bridging the gap between industry and academia by championing introduction of academic programmes with local universities.
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