Vodafone / Vodacom (1994 -1995)

I joined Vodacom (later renamed Vodafone) shortly after the first GSM cellular telephony licenses were awarded in South Africa and the company was formed with Vodafone UK and Telkom South Africa as the two largest shareholders.

The GSM system was operationalised within the first six months after I joined the company and I oversaw what at the time was the fastest roll-out of base station infrastructure worldwide.

1. In cooperation with Engineering Department, identification of most suitable base station locations.

2. Negotiating and concluding land lease or purchase agreements for the base station sites.

3. Negotiation with and obtaining authorisations for the erection of base station masts from relevant authorities including Civil Aviation Authority, Local Authorities and Department of Environmental Affairs.

4. Preparing project and program implementation plan(s), implementing and monitoring base station roll-out program.

5. Negotiating and concluding contracts with suppliers, contractors and consultants to assist with the program roll-out.

1. Fastest roll-out of base station infrastructure worldwide.

2. Successfully led and implemented the Operation Departments contribution to a company wide relational database based software tool for the roll-out and management of base-station infrastructure.