The forthcoming new owners of Eircom may be lining up a former boss at rival BT to head the firm, a Daily Mail news report, citing industry sources, said.
American Bill Murphy ran BT Ireland for a time, famously knocking it into shape to compete with the former state-owned dominant player, the report said.
The Daily Mail report said industry sources claimed over the weekend that he had now been approached by Australian joint buyers Babcock & Brown to succeed Eircom's current CEO Philip Nolan.
Another name being mentioned for the job was that of B&B Capital director Rex Comb, who was a director of the Cayman Islands holding company that now controlled Eircom, the report said.
Sources were also naming telecom industry veteran Andrew MacLeod as a possible candidate for a senior job in Eircom. MacLeod had already been brought in as a consultant by B&B to help it tie up the takeover of Eircom, the report said.