Telecom Infra Project (TIP) announced Amith Maharaj, group technology executive of African operator MTN Group, joined its board of directors, bolstering an existing partnership between the pair.

TIP chair and Vodafone Group fellow and head of network architecture Santiago Tenorio stated the organisation would benefit from Maharaj’s extensive experience.

Tenorio hailed MTN as a “trailblazer of open and disaggregated technologies in Africa and globally”.

Maharaj’s telecoms experience includes senior roles at Telkom South Africa and Vodacom’s operation in the nation.

TIP and MTN have collaborated since the infrastructure initiative launched in 2016. In 2020, they partnered on evolving the operator’s network to meet growing traffic and develop products for 5G.

Tenorio stated the collaboration had delivered innovations covering Wi-Fi, RAN and more.

Maharaj added MTN sees TIP as “a critical part in realising our strategic intent” of providing “digital solutions for Africa’s progress”, a role heightened by the operator’s position across the continent.