The Communications Commission has replaced Mariam Sulaberidze with Tamar Bokuchava as the special manager of Caucasus Online. Ms Sulaberidze, who is also the director of the NNLE Open Net, had requested to be relieved of her position as special manager. 

As part of the state program on broadband, fiber-optic infrastructure development Open Net NNLE has received today authorisation for operating in the field of electronic communications. According to Articles 46¹.6 and 46¹.7 of the Law of Georgia on Electronic Communications, a special manager may not be the director of another authorised person/licence holder in the field of electronic communications. This led to submission of the aforementioned request by Mariam Sulaberidze. She had been appointed to the position of special manager of Caucasus Online on 1 October 2020.

The new special manager of Caucasus Online is Tamar Bokuchava, who has six years of working experience in the telecommunications sector. She has headed the Human Resources Management Unit at the Commission since 2017.    Ms. Bokuchava holds a master’s degree in strategic human resources management (SHRM) from the University of Wollongong in Dubai. Further, she is pursuing a PhD in labour and organisational psychology at the Tbilisi State University (TSU). She has 20 years of experience working in public, private and international organisations. She was serving as assistant professor of labour and organisational psychology at TSU in 2009-2011. She is currently an invited lecturer and researcher at TSU.   

According to the decision of the Communications Commission a special manager has been appointed to Caucasus Online until the company reverses the transaction that led to the illegal sale of its shares. The Commission first instructed Caucasus Online to comply with the legislation on 17 October 2019. Despite being sanctioned on 6 occasions within a year, the company refused to comply with the legislation. 

According to the legislation, the special manager is accountable and reports only to the Communications Commission. The manager is authorised to perform the duties of the company director, supervisory board and of the meeting of partners. Furthermore, all decisions of the company have to be agreed with the special manager, who is also authorised to dispute any actions and deals performed by Caucasus Online within one year before the appointment of special manager in courts and ask for them to be annulled, if the aforementioned actions have harmed or are harming the legal interests of consumers, the country’s economic interests or the competitive environment on the market.