Malaysia-based Celcom Axiata appointed Idham Nawawi (pictured) as CEO, replacing Michael Kuehner who steps down as the chief of the country’s third largest operator at the end of August.

Nawawi has 25 years of business and operations experience in the telecoms industry in the Asia-Pacific region. He has held various senior management and directorship positions with several international and local organisations, including multiple start-ups.

With the group since 2012, he is currently group chief corporate officer. Nawawi also led Axiata Group’s transformation programme office from 2012 to 2015, which was the impetus of its expansion beyond its core mobile business into new digital services and tower business. As interim COO for Axiata Digital Services during its start-up phase in 2014, he established the MYR100 million ($24.4 million) Axiata Digital Innovation Fund, which aimed to develop Malaysian digital entrepreneurs.

Jamaludin Ibrahim, president and CEO of Axiata Group, said: “With his vast leadership and notable accomplishments in many roles, I am confident he will lead Celcom to the next level of transformation into a digital world as well as to pursue our profitable growth strategy”.

He added: “I would also like to take this opportunity to extend our gratitude to Michael for his immense contributions and for positioning Celcom solidly for the great opportunities ahead.”

Celcom had a 24 per cent market share by subscribers at end-June, trailing both Digi and Maxis by about 3 percentage points, the latest data from GSMA Intelligence showed.