Belgacom's newly appointed CEO, Dominique Leroy, has gained board approval for a management restructure designed to make the Belgian incumbent more flexible by improving decision making and team collaboration.
Leroy presented her vision to the operator's board last week, a fortnight after being appointed chief executive of the Belgian incumbent. The plans see Dirk Lybaert appointed EVP of corporate affairs--a new post covering group communications, legal, public affairs, regulatory, and security governance and investigations--and Vincent Licoppe as head of group strategy and transformation.
Belgacom said it is considering internal and external candidates for the post of EVP of the consumer business unit, and also said that Bruno Chauvat, EVP of strategy and content since 2011, has left the company after the position was cancelled.
Other board members include Bart Van Den Meersche as head of the enterprise business unit, Geert Standaert in charge of service and delivery, Ray Stewart as head of group finance, and Michel Georgis as head of group HR.
The operator said the changes would improve customer service and boost its financials. Belgacom's core profits fell 7.7 per cent year-on-year in the third quarter of 2013, on the back of lower mobile revenues.
Leroy gave no indication as to whether or not she plans to change Belgacom's domestic multi-service strategy, which was implemented by previous CEO Didier Bellens during his 10-year tenure to compete with rivals Telenet, BASE and Mobistar.
Bellens was sacked in November at the request of Belgium's government, which holds a controlling 53.5 per cent stake in the telco. The government called for Bellens' head after he repeatedly criticised authorities and launched a personal attack on Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo.
Belgacom wasn't the only carrier in Belgium to suffer in the third quarter. Fierce competition in the country also saw Mobistar and BASE report lower revenues for the period, with only MVNO Telenet – which uses Mobistar's network – generating better-than-expected profits in the quarter.
Mobistar recently demanded cable operators in the country open up access to their networks within six months, as it prepares to relaunch fixed and mobile bundles this year.
For more:
- see this Belgacom release
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