Sanjiv Ahuja, the head of France Télécom SA’s mobile phone and Internet division Orange SA, will step down later this year to work on a series of new telecommunications ventures, he said Thursday.
Ahuja joined Orange as chief operating officer in April 2003 and became CEO in March 2004, leading the reintegration of the mobile operator with its parent company and, later, the extension of the Orange brand to encompass the company’s Internet access and business networking activities.
Although Ahuja plans to step down as CEO of Orange, he will remain chairman of its U.K. division and continue to advise France Télécom Chairman and CEO Didier Lombard.
The company has already lined up someone to replace Ahuja in some of his activities: Olaf Swantee, currently a senior vice president of enterprise sales and software at Hewlett-Packard Co., will join Orange in July as executive vice president in charge of personal communication services for the U.K., Europe and the Middle East, said France Télécom spokesman Patrick Thielemans. Swantee will work in London, from where he will also oversee mobile and Internet activities in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Slovakia, Romania, Moldova, Egypt and the Dominican Republic.
Responsibility for other divisions in Africa and Asia, currently managed by Ahuja, has not been decided, Thielemans said.
The position of CEO of Orange is likely to be retired as, following the integration of its activities with those of France Télécom, Orange SA is now a legal entity with no operational activities, Thielemans said. Instead, the operational activities of Orange are managed on a country-by-country basis.
France Télécom is already working with Ahuja on his future projects, which involve investment and development activities in the telecommunications sector, notably in emerging markets, Thielemans said. The company will be an investment partner, he said.
