Oztelcan is a 23-year industry veteran, having held senior management roles in sales, marketing and corporate development in the telecoms and IT space.
Oztelcan is CEO at Linxa and has sat on the board of governors for the Pacific Telecoms Council (PTC) for over two years. He spent almost four years as CEO at Türk Telekom International, where he also served as chief marketing and sales officer. He also worked for the Türk Telekom group and has held roles with Intel and Boeing.
Oztelcan said: “I’m very excited by the opportunity to join a growing and dynamic company with a great potential. I am confident that with the tremendous support of our shareholders and the quality of the entire GBI team, we will continue to innovate and delight our customers, partners and suppliers. GBI is in a very unique position to shape the industry and deliver end to end high quality solutions to our customers. I am honoured to have the opportunity to lead the GBI team at this exciting time."
He replaces Amr Eid as CEO. Eid became permanent CEO in January 2017, following a nine-month stint as acting CEO. GBI said Eid is “still in transition within GBI” but declined to comment further on his future.
Commenting on the appointment, Abdulla Al Rwaili, executive director and managing director of GBI said: “We are delighted to announce that Cengiz has joined GBI as our new CEO. Under Cengiz’s leadership, we are convinced that the business will continue to grow and GBI will become a prominent player in the global telecommunications industry.
“He will provide strategic vision and operational excellence to keep GBI and our customers ahead of today's rapid pace of change and will ensure we remain at the forefront of tomorrow's connected world.”
His appointment with Qatar-based GBI comes as the company revealed it has signed a new long-term agreement with Vodafone Qatar that will provide the telco with IP transit service, International SDH and Global Ethernet from Qatar to Europe and Asia.
