Allan Richardson, the chief executive officer of Wataniya Palestine, will leave the company within the next three to six months.
Richardson, who has held the top job at the mobile phone operator since its incorporation in early 2007, decided to leave for…
Allan Richardson, the chief executive officer of Wataniya Palestine, will leave the company within the next three to six months.
Richardson, who has held the top job at the mobile phone operator since its incorporation in early 2007, decided to leave for personal reasons.
Qatar’s Qtel, which owns Wataniya Palestine, has picked Bassam Hannoun, the head of its WiMAX business in Jordan to replace Richardson.
Hannoun will only takeover as CEO of Wataniya Palestine once Richardson has left.
Although the Palestinian Authority picked Wataniya to run the second mobile phone licence in the West Bank and Gaza in early 2007, Wataniya Palestine failed to launch mobile phone services until late last year. The Israeli authorities repeatedly refused to release the spectrum that Wataniya Palestine needed to operate mobile phone services.
Wataniya Palestine only operates in the West Bank because Hamas refuses to recognise the company’s licence. Hamas’s great rival Fatah picked Wataniya for the second licence.
Before he started work at Wataniya, Richardson launched Orascom Telecom’s operation in Iraq back in 2004. Orascom subsequently sold the business to Kuwait’s Zain.
Richardson may still find work elsewhere in the Qtel group.
