Telecommunications firm Bharti Airtel has appointed Alain Kahasha as its new managing director for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) business.

Kahasha, who was recently named chief operating officer in the DRC, will now head the company's operations as MD effective immediately.

The Indian telcos' new MD for the DRC holds an electrical engineering degree from Ecole des Sciences Appliques de Mons and a master's degree in telecommunications from Mons, Belgium.

Before joining Airtel he worked in various commercial and technical roles at the Coca-Cola Company and British American Tobacco and Vodacom in DRC.

Kahasha is also the former MD of Airtel Niger.

In his new role Kahasha will be responsible for the transformation and turn-around of the business in the African country, it has been reported.

He is also expected to work with a team to deliver a superior network and customer experience to the communities across the vast land area of the DRC.

Kahasha will report to Airtel Africa chief executive officer, Christian de Faria.

Commenting on the appointment de Faria said, "Alain replaces Louis Lubala who will be leaving the company to pursue personal interests. During his tenure as MD for the DRC, Louis has worked hard to stabilise the business by refreshing our systems and processes and spent quality time strengthening the relationships with our external stakeholders."

Bharti Airtel has over 300 million customers across its operations. The telecoms firm has operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa.