Paratus Appoints Neill Nortje As Zambia Country Manager

Paratus has named Neill Nortje as its new Country Manager for Zambia, marking a leadership transition as the pan-African telecommunications provider looks to strengthen its position in one of Southern Africa’s growing digital markets.

Nortje takes over from Marius van Vuuren, who has been promoted to Chief Operating Officer at Paratus Group after leading the Zambian business. The appointment represents an internal promotion for Nortje, who joined Paratus Zambia two years ago to launch the company’s consumer services business before advancing to the role of Operations Manager. His experience spans wholesale telecommunications, enterprise connectivity, cloud services, data centres and network operations across multiple African markets.

Prior to joining Paratus, Nortje held senior positions at Wingu Africa, Telecom Italia and NeoTel, where he gained experience in wholesale telecommunications, cross-border connectivity and data centre infrastructure. His promotion comes as Zambia continues to experience growing demand for digital infrastructure and enterprise connectivity, driven by increasing cloud adoption, digital transformation initiatives and investment in telecommunications networks.

Speaking on his appointment, Nortje said Paratus has established a strong reputation in Zambia and is well positioned to build on its existing foundation. He said the company’s immediate priorities include expanding network capacity within Zambia and into neighbouring markets, strengthening its enterprise services portfolio and reinforcing Zambia’s role as a regional connectivity hub. He added that enhancing customer experience through reliable network performance and resilient digital infrastructure would remain a key focus.

Enterprise services are expected to play an increasingly important role in the company’s strategy as organisations continue migrating workloads to the cloud while responding to evolving data localisation requirements. Nortje believes Paratus Zambia is well placed to support these demands through its local cloud capabilities, Tier III data centre in Lusaka and the wider Paratus network across Africa.

Beyond expanding enterprise connectivity, Nortje also highlighted the importance of improving Zambia’s digital ecosystem by strengthening local internet peering between network operators.

According to Nortje, a significant portion of internet traffic generated within Zambia still routes through networks outside the country before returning to local users, creating unnecessary latency and additional costs. Increasing local interconnection, he said, would help deliver faster, more resilient and more affordable internet services for businesses and consumers.

The new country manager also pointed to digital inclusion as an important part of the company’s broader mission. He cited a recent initiative that saw Paratus provide Starlink connectivity to a previously unconnected rural school in Zambia, noting that access to reliable internet can expand educational opportunities and support broader economic development.

Commenting on the appointment, Paratus Group CEO Schalk Erasmus said Nortje’s understanding of both the telecommunications industry and the Zambian market made him well suited to lead the business through its next phase of growth.

“Neill combines deep industry expertise with an excellent understanding of the Zambian market and our business. Having already played an important role in Paratus Zambia’s recent success, we are confident he will lead the company to yet more growth and new horizons,” Erasmus said.

Nortje’s appointment comes at a time when telecom operators across Africa are increasing investment in fibre networks, cloud infrastructure and data centres to support rising demand for digital services from businesses, governments and consumers. As Zambia continues positioning itself as a regional connectivity hub, Paratus is expected to focus on expanding its infrastructure footprint while strengthening enterprise and cloud offerings across the market.