Telecom appoints new mobile director

Kieren Cooney, formerly of Vodafone, has been appointed director of Telecom's mobile division. Photo / Richard Robinson.

Telecom has appointed Kieren Cooney, the chief executive of its retail dealer partner Leading Edge NZ, as the new director of its troubled mobile division.

Before his four years at Leading Edge, Mr Cooney held key senior roles at Vodafone including general manager new markets and general manager media and content.

During that time he led the launch of the company's 3G service and the development and growth of its content portal, Telecom said today.

Mr Cooney would be taking up the new job in June ahead of the departure of current director of mobile Paul Hamburger, whose contract ends in July.

The change at the top comes in the wake of problems with Telecom's new and heavily promoted XT mobile network, although Telecom said Mr Hamburger's departure was not linked to the XT troubles.

Telecom retail chief executive Alan Gourdie said Mr Cooney had close workings with Telecom's mobile operations in recent years