Nokia said it will split its customer operations business into two regional groups. Ricky Corker will become president of customer operations for Americas and Federico Guillén president of Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia, as of January 1, 2019.
Ashish Chowdhary, who currently heads Nokia’s customer operations, will depart the company on January 1, 2019, after serving the company for 15 years.
In a statement, Nokia said Chowdhary will leave the Finnish vendor to take up a “leadership position” in another company.
"As we enter the 5G era, extreme customer focus is a must," Nokia president and chief executive officer Rajeev Suri said. "The changes we are announcing today will ensure that we continue to have the senior management capacity necessary for superb customer relationships in a world of increasing speed and complexity."
Corker moves into the new position from his present role as executive vice president and president of North America. According to Nokia, Corker “has played an instrumental role in returning the business in North America to growth and positioning Nokia strongly in 5G and other technologies”.
He also has served as head of the Asia Pacific Region and held senior roles in Europe and Australia with the company. Corker will report to Suri and, effective January 1, 2019, will join the Nokia Group Leadership Team.
Guillén is Nokia’s current president of fixed networks. Previously, he was president of Alcatel-Lucent Spain and head of the Telefónica account team. He also is a member of the board of Nokia Shanghai Bell.
Guillén will continue to report to Suri and remain a member of the Nokia Group Leadership Team. Nokia said it will announce a new leader for fixed networks in “due course”.
The restructuring is also seen as part of Nokia’s continuous efforts to boost its operations.
In late October, Nokia announced a major restructuring of the company in an attempt to cut €700 million ($790 million) in costs by 2020.
The company had also announced plans to create a new enterprise-focused group that will be headed by Kathrin Buvac who is currently its chief strategy officer.
Earlier this month Nokia formed a strategic alliance with Indian consulting firm Infosys to combine their offerings into a digital transformation platform targeted at enterprise customers, as it continue to expand beyond the telecoms sector.
The company had also signed frame agreements with China's big three operators worth more than €2 billion ($2.28 billion), covering the supply of wireless and fixed networking equipment and related services.