Mobinil is regaining its share of Egypt's telecommunications market following a recent boycott campaign against the company, according to majority stakeholder France Telecom. Marc Rennard, deputy chairman of France Telecom, which owns 71.25 percent of Mobinil shares, said he and Orascom Telecom Chairman Naguib Sawiris agreed to make some changes to Mobinil's board of directors. Mobinil announced Wednesday that Rennard will replace Eskandar Shalaby as board chairman and Yves Jote will replace Hassan Kabbany as CEO. The changes are unrelated to the Mobinil boycott and were made in accordance with Kabbany's wishes when his contract expired, Rennard said via video conference from Paris. He also dispelled rumors that France Telecom was negotiating with Orascom Telecom to acquire the latter's remaining Mobinil shares. The boycott started when Sawiris posted a cartoon, which some found offensive to Islam, of a bearded Mickey Mouse and veiled Minnie Mouse on Twitter. Rennard said he does not understand the boycott or faltering public opinion of the company as the cartoon had nothing to do with Mobinil and Sawiris has repeatedly apologized. Translated from the Arabic Edition
