Augere Holdings (Netherlands) BV (“Augere”) is today pleased to announce the appointment of David Venn as Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”).

David brings extensive telecommunications and emerging market experience to this role, having worked in the telecommunications sector for almost 30 years.

His previous role was as CEO of Vodafone Ghana, where he oversaw a complete turnaround of the business transforming it from a loss making operation to a profitable one.

Prior to this David was CEO of Celtel Zambia and again enjoyed a successful tenure, resulting in 2.8 million customers and a successful flotation on the Zambian stock exchange.

David will be based in Dubai, UAE and replaces Sanjiv Ahuja as CEO. Sanjiv will remain Executive Chairman of Augere.

Sanjiv commented, “I would like to welcome David to the Augere team and I am certain his extensive experience in telecommunications and emerging markets, along with his strong leadership will help Augere to move on to the next level”.

About Augere:

Augere was established in September 2007 by an experienced team of global telecoms executives with the vision of delivering 'broadband for all'. It is committed to achieving this through the delivery of fast, reliable broadband internet services in emerging markets using wireless networks.

Augere has an established leadership team in place with over 150 years experience in the telecommunications industry. Since its formation, the Company has successfully raised more than $250m of finance. Augere’s principal shareholders include Harbinger Capital, France Telecom, New Silk Route and Vedanta Opportunity Fund as well as its founder, Sanjiv Ahuja.

Augere currently has access to spectrum in Pakistan, Bangladesh, the states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in India, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania. Access to additional spectrum is being actively pursued across Africa and Asia.

Augere's first commercial wireless network was launched under the Qubee brand in Pakistan in July 2009. This was closely followed by the Bangladesh network in October 2009. By mid 2011 Augere was operating wireless networks comprising more than 650 radio base stations and serving over 100,000 broadband customers.