KUALA LUMPUR (June 13): Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) has appointed Datuk Noor Kamarul Anuar Nuruddin, 60, as its managing director (MD) and group chief executive officer (CEO) effective today.

Meanwhile, Imri Mokhtar will return to his role as TM chief operating officer. He has been the acting CEO since November last year after Datuk Bazlan Osman resigned. Bazlan was supposed to fill the post after Datuk Seri Shazalli Ramly — who was also a media adviser to former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak — resigned a month after the general elections in May last year.

Today's announcement ends the standoff over CEO appointment, as the position has been vacant for a year.

"Noor Kamarul is fully capable to take TM forward into the future and explore new frontiers of growth.

"We will continue with our ongoing transformation journey and execute the strategic initiatives planned to assist TM in navigating through the current challenges and position us in a more resilient, competitive and sustainable footing," said TM's chairman Rosli Man.

To recap, at the recent annual general meeting, Rosli was asked about the appointment of the CEO. He was perceived as not acting swiftly on the matter.

It was said that there was a standoff between Rosli and MoF Inc over Imri's appointment as MD and CEO.

In an interesting turn, TM released a statement later noting that the chairman had deferred the appointment at the request of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).

Noor Kamarul was previously part of Celcom Axiata Bhd (Celcom)'s senior management team from 2003 to March 2018.

He held several offices during his tenure at Celcom. He started out as the group's chief technology officer for its Network Strategic Plan before ultimately ending up as chief special project officer.

TM's share price gained 1.87% or seven sen today to close at RM3.81, with 14.78 million shares traded, giving it a market capitalisation of RM14.05 billion.