MTN appoints CTO

MTN SA has announced the appointment of Lambo Kanagaratnam as its new Chief Technology Officer (CTO).

Kanagaratnam, whose appointment was effective from December 2010, was previously the CTO of MTN Irancell, a position he held since April 2009, and has been in the employ of MTN in various positions and operations since April 1999.

“We are very happy to welcome Lambo Kanagaratnam back to our South African operation. He has enjoyed a long and successful career within the Group and we are looking forward to his technological expertise and input in an area that is crucial to our ongoing growth and success within the local market,” says Karel Pienaar, managing director of MTN SA.

“Our network is the backbone of our business. Seamless quality to deliver excellent service to our customers, and plans to connect all South Africans for both voice and internet are pivotal to the continued success of MTN. I am confident that Lambo will continue to drive a world-class network across all areas of our business,” he added.

During his time at MTN Irancell, Kanagaratnam was responsible for the consolidation of managed services across the network, improving the network quality and expanding the network by more than 2000 sites to accommodate the operation’s 60% network traffic growth and 40% subscriber growth.

From June 2008, he was general manager: MTN Group Network Technology with a focus on formulating the network technology and supporting all MTN operations across the Group. In January 2006, Kanagaratnam was seconded to MTN Irancell as part of the start-up team.

When he first joined MTN SA in April 1999, he held a number of positions within the Radio Planning division of the Network Group, including senior manager: Radio Network Optimisation. Kanagaratnam began his career at Eskom in various junior engineering roles and worked for the utility from January 1996 till March 1999.