Mobile network MTN’s top executive in South Africa has resigned after just 10 months in the role, another blow as the company grapples with tough competition that has eaten into revenue and a labor strike now in its eighth week.
According to Bloomberg, Ahmad Farroukh will step down as CEO of MTN’s South Africa unit on July 31, reportedly for personal and family reasons. His brief tenure was marked by several big challenges—namely, struggling to grow the mobile network’s subscriber base and negotiating a wage deal with unions.
Since May 20, more than 2,000 of MTN’s South African workers—who handle goods and repairs in factories for the mobile network—have downed tools for a 10% wage increase, improved bonuses, and better remuneration for weekend and holiday work. The dispute already has had a big effect on MTN’s phone supplies and distribution to retail stores in South Africa, which is the Johannesburg-based company’s biggest market after Nigeria.
MTN average revenue per user has been on the decline over the past five quarters in South Africa, mainly due to increased competition from Telkom Mobile and other new providers that offer competitively priced packages for voice and mobile data.