Shareholders of Romanian telecom operator Romtelecom, Greek group OTE and the Romanian Ministry of Communications, decided on Friday to appoint Stefanos Theocharpoulos as the company’s chief executive officer (CEO), replacing Yorgos Ioannidis who ended his mandate at the end of June, according to the ministry.

Theocharpoulos is currently the CEO of mobile communications operator Cosmote Romania, which is also controlled by OTE.

OTE holds 54 percent of Romtelecom shares and the Romanian state has a 46 percent stake in the company. During the meeting on Friday, the Romanian communications minister, Valerian Vreme, and the OTE CEO, Michael Tsamaz, also discussed about the Romtelecom – Cosmote merger which should result in the largest telecommunications company in Romania. They established that either Romtelecom or the company resulting from the merger should be listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BSE) in 12 months time, as the state wants to sell its stake. OTE decided earlier this year that it will not buy the 46 percent stake from the state.

Stefanos Theocharopoulos (42) was appointed CEO of Cosmote Romania in January 2008. He joined OTE in 2002. Before that he worked for O2 (Germany), Dutchtone (Netherlands), Vodafone Greece, Fujitsu Telecom Research (Great Britain) and Ericsson Hellas (Greece). He graduated Sussex University and holds a bachelor degree in electronic engineering and a masters degree in mobile communications from the University of Westminster.

editor@romania-insider.ro