Confirmed: BoV chairman to head Maltacom Group

Kurt Sansone
Government yesterday officially announced that BOV chairman Joseph F.X. Zahra is to be appointed chairman of Maltacom on Friday during the Group’s annual general meeting.
Along with Zahra’s appointment, government also announced the names of four new directors chosen to represent government’s interests on the board of directors.
The new directors are GRTU director general Vince Farrugia, Sonny Portelli, who has an extensive background in the tourism sector, Salvu Sciberras, who was director of the Foundation for Medical Services and Alex Tranter, the president of the Chamber of Engineers.
Informed sources told The Malta Financial and Business Times yesterday that for a while Zahra will be heading both Maltacom and Bank of Valletta. It is widely expected that Zahra would eventually let go of the bank’s chairmanship.
Zahra will be replacing Maurice Zarb Adami who has been at Maltacom’s helm since 1999.
The BOV chairman takes over at Maltacom at a time when the company is facing a stiff challenge from competitors owing to the liberalisation of the market. However, Zahra is no stranger to competition.
Soon after Zahra took over at BOV, the bank’s main rival, Mid Med Bank was sold to HSBC. Despite the challenge of having a global player competing in the banking sector, BOV still maintained its market share and expanded its operations abroad.
The Maltacom Group has steadily diversified its portfolio over recent years and is the single largest communications company in Malta - branching out into mobile and fixed line telephony, Internet connectivity including high speed access and web content provision. The Group also intends extending its reach into television services in the future.