 |
Al-Ahram Weekly 22 - 28 June 2000 Issue No. 487 
|
||
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
| ||
|
Al-Ahram Weekly 22 - 28 June 2000 Issue No. 487
|
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
| ||
Egypt Region International Economy Focus Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Lord of the rings
A NEW man takes the helm at Egypt Telecom this week. Engineer Oqail Hamed Beshir is now chairman of Egypt's national telecommunications company. He replaces Engineer Abdel-Fattah Abu Serie', who served as chairman for four years. Abu Serie' will move on to work closely with the minister of telecommunications.According to a press release, the current stage in the development of Egypt Telecom requires private sector administrative and financial expertise to contribute to turning the company from a government institution, to a joint-stock company which is preparing to float a portion of its shares at the end of this year.
"Egypt Telecom is on the threshold of a new phase, during which the company will need to be run by a private sector mentality," said Beshir.
Beshir has held managerial positions in private sector companies. He was general manager and executive director for Giza Systems as well as chairman of Al-Ahly Computers Company. "If the company does not have the capacity to compete, it will not survive," said Beshir, adding that the Egyptian national telecommunications company was, for a large part of its history, a monopoly. This began to change with the creation of the two mobile phone operators and the two pay phone operators.
Beshir outlined the main areas to which he will be directing his efforts. He said that the company will continue to improve its services, and that there will be a greater focus on marketing. He said that Telecom Egypt had no intention to lay off any of its 55,000 employees, adding that he plans to "make better use of (their potential) by upgrading their skills" . Beshir added that there would also be an improvement in salaries and remuneration.
