Batelco appoints Bahrain-focussed CEO

Batelco has appointed a new CEO to run the telco’s day-to-day activities, as former country CEO, Peter Kaliaropoulos assumes the role of CEO for the overall Batelco Group, which has activities spanning Bahrain, India, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Kuwait and Yemen.

Rieder will take charge of Batelco’s day-to-day operations, as Kaliaropoulos focuses on group activities

Gert Rieder’s appointment as Batelco Bahrain CEO comes as part of the telco’s restructuring programme, which is aimed at managing the growing needs of the organisation. In the past year Batelco has expanded into significant territories including Saudi Arabia and India, with the contribution made by operations outside of Bahrain rising all the time. Kaliaropoulos, who was appointed CEO of Batelco in June 2005, has been largely responsible for the telco’s impressive international expansion.

“I have got to find growth and I’ll find growth in two areas, in what I call adjacent markets – which may be moving up the value chain, from just being a connectivity provider of fixed and wireless… But I also have to find growth in adjacent geographies,” Kaliaropoulos stated shortly after his appointment.

Prior to joining Batelco, Rieder was senior advisor for ENEX Finance, a private equity company based in Switzerland. He has over 20 years experience in the telecoms sector having begun his career in 1987 with TDC (TeleDanmark). He held various roles and executive positions within TDC including director Residential FixNet division, director business division, senior VP for mobile marketing and wholesale divisions.

In 1997, Rieder joined Sunrise Communications, a telecommunications service provider in Switzerland that is a joint venture between TDC, BT and three Swiss partners, as chief commercial officer. In 2001 he was promoted to COO Sunrise Mobile. From 2004 until 2008 Rieder was executive VP for TDC Residential and member of the executive team in TDC Solutions.

Rieder holds an executive MBA from INSEAD in France.

Batelco reported net profit of BD104.2 million (US$276.4 million) for 2008, up 2.7 per cent over 2007. Revenues for the year grew by 8.9 per cent year-on-year to BD319.1 million, while net revenues were up10.1 per cent to BD251.4 million. The telco counted 4.3 million subscribers across its operations at the end of 2008.