The nomination committee of Alcatel-Lucent wants to propose Mike Quigley as the new chief executive officer to replace Pat Russo, a Reuters report said, quoting Canard Enchaine weekly.
Quigley left Alcatel as chief operating officer a year ago due to health reasons.
Alcatel-Lucent had no immediate comment, the report said.
The nomination committee is made up of supervisory board members and headed by Daniel Bernard, former chairman of retailer Carrefour.
The loss-making telecommunications equipment group on July 29 dumped both its chairman Serge Tchuruk and Russo.
Earlier, Tchuruk told French newspaper Le Figaro that the new heads of Alcatel-Lucent were expected to be appointed 'very quickly'.
The merger of Alcatel and Lucent was hit by a downturn in spending among key former Lucent clients in North America and fierce competition.