SEACOM, African network provider and telecoms enabler, has appointed Steven van der Linde as chief sales officer responsible for growing group revenues, leading customer engagement and strategic channel development.

A statement released by the company says that van der Linde brings to his role more than 20 years of sales leadership experience in the African telecoms market.

"Steven joins SEACOM from Tata Communications, where he was Regional Sales Director for Africa. Previously, he held the same position with Teleglobe, which was acquired by VSNL, and ultimately by Tata Communications," the company states.

Van der Linde is said to have started his career in telecoms as an engineer with Telkom South Africa, where he was later promoted to Head of New Technologies, responsible for the introduction of new data services.

He later moved into marketing to promote the use of these newly deployed services and handled Product Management of the whole Data Services Portfolio. He left the carrier to help establish M-Web, a South African Internet service provider.

Byron Clatterbuck, chief executive officer at CEO, says: "We are delighted to have someone with Steven's experience and expertise join our company as we gear up to grow our business. He has a great track record in business development and sales leadership, and will be an asset to the team."

"SEACOM is today a pan-African ICT enabler driving the development of the African Internet. We have a strong management team in place as we strive to deliver new services and capabilities into Africa's telecom marketplace for the benefit of carriers, service providers and enterprises across the continent."

Van der Linde adds: "I am very proud to be part of the SEACOM team. We are revolutionising the way people do business in Africa, and it is great to be part of this exciting journey."