Two major promotions have been announced at the country’s largest listed entity on the South Pacific Stock Exchange.
Attar Singh has taken over as chairman of the Pacific’s main telecommunications holdings company. Tanya Waqanika has also risen through the ranks to become the deputy chairperson of Amalgamated Telecom Holdings.
Mr. Singh, who was previously a board member at ATH, replaces Dakshesh Patel, who had been acting chairman. Singh brings extensive experience, having served on various boards either as a director or chairman. He was the general secretary of the Council of Trade Unions before running in the 2018 national elections on a National Federation Party ticket. At that time, Singh noted he would not return to union work due to legal restrictions.
Currently, Mr. Singh is the assistant national secretary for the Fiji Trades Union Congress (FTUC) and the general secretary for the Fiji Longshoremen and Staff Association. He also serves as an industrial relations advisor to the National Union of Municipal Workers and Fiji Airlines Pilots Association. Additionally, he is a member of the National Occupational Safety & Health Advisory and the Employment Relations Advisory boards.
Mr. Singh’s background includes over 15 years as the general secretary of the Fiji Islands Council of Trade Unions and 17 years as president of the Fiji Cane Growers Association. Internationally, he has held positions on the Asia Pacific Executive Board (Singapore), Uni Global Union (Geneva), and the International Transport Workers Federation.
Beginning his career in 1978 as an aircraft engineer, Singh later earned a private pilot’s license in 1980 in New Zealand and an aircraft maintenance engineer’s license in 1983 from the Civil Aviation Authority of Fiji. In 1993, he shifted his career focus to industrial relations, advocating for employee rights and welfare.
Amalgamated Telecom has a broad regional presence with business interests in Kiribati, Vanuatu, American Samoa, Samoa, Cook Islands, and Papua New Guinea.
Meanwhile, Tanya Waqanika, a former lawyer for Fiji Television, contested the last national election on a SODELPA ticket.