Celcom

Can Celcom pull it off?

by S Jai Shankar

Comments

* 1

* 2

* 3

* Next

SPURRED by Telekom Malaysia Bhd's desire to boost its cellular- phone

business, Datuk Mohamed Yunus Ramli Abbas walked into Celcom (M) Bhd's

boardroom in September last year to become its group chief executive

officer.

Celcom, Malaysia's first private cellular company, has been undergoing

challenging times. A recent ownership and management makeover saw the

departure of majority shareholder Tan Sri Tajudin Ramli and the ascendancy

of Telekom in the company.

Telekom's plan is clear-cut - assume control of Celcom and merge the

company with its own cellular service operations, TM Cellular Sdn Bhd.

Related Results

* The bigger, the better

* Celcom, REDtone target enterprise segment

* Student power brings about changes

* DRAWBACKS IN PREPAID LINE REGISTRATION

This would be in line with the government's plan to consolidate the

telco sector. It would also help the fixed-line service giant assume

control of the local cellular-service market - a market it first ignored

but later found itself left far behind.

But the protracted verbal and boardroom battles in Celcom that were

played out publicly appeared to have sapped the company's energy and

morale. To make matters worse, Celcom underwent a voluntary separation

scheme (VSS) last year, cutting down its 4,000 strong employees by 40%.

Ramli admits that the situation could have resulted in Celcom's staff

becoming concerned more about their future than their customers'

satisfaction. `Maybe some of them became more concerned about saving their

backs,' he tells Malaysian Business.

Then there were allegations of possible mismanagement to contend with.

So Ramli has his work cut out for him. But the 54-year-old obviously

relishes the challenge that comes with putting Celcom back on track in

what is believed to be one of the biggest merger exercises in Malaysian

corporate history.

Ramli thinks he...