According to a well-placed source, Telecom plans to eliminate the position of director of mobile - despite having already announced Paul Hamburger's replacement.Mr Hamburger, who had attracted controversy for this Miami-Auckland commute, announced on Marc
According to a well-placed source, Telecom plans to eliminate the position of director of mobile - despite having already announced Paul Hamburger’s replacement.
Mr Hamburger, who had attracted controversy for this Miami-Auckland commute, announced on March 25 that he would not renew his contract, due to rollover in June.
On April 14, the company announced Mr Hamburger’s replacement, Kieren Cooney (pictured) - currently chief executive of Telecom retail partner Leading Edge, and a former general manager at Vodafone NZ, where he pioneered new media bundles, and fronted the telco’s original 3G launch.
Telecom said at the time “Mr Cooney’s responsibility will be the commercial operations of Telecom’s mobile business such as product management, plans, handsets, and roaming as well as supply chain, retail promotions and sales.” That is, the same job description as Mr Hamburger.
Now, it seems Mr Cooney may never become director of mobile.
NBR understands that the position has been disestablished as part of Telecom’s recently announced drive to eliminate 200 management jobs in the wake of its 2011-2013 earnings downgrade.
According to the source, the director of mobile’s functions will now come under Telecom Retail chief executive Alan Gourdie (a Telecom rep said the director of mobile had always reported to Mr Gourdie).
UPDATE: Eliminated role part of broad restructure
Telecom spokesman Nick Brown told NBR Mr Cooney's situation reflected a broad structural change, which will shortly be made public.
"A proposal announced to retail staff this week would see a structure designed to help bring products and offers to customers more efficiently.
"Rather than grouping our teams around particular product sets the business will be grouped around key functions such as product development and management, marketing, sales, customer service and support - and these teams will work across all products sets.
"No final decisions on particular roles and appointments have yet been announced internally, this is happening through an ongoing process of communication and consultation with staff over the next month.
"In regards to Kieren Cooney who was appointed as mobile director recently, Kieren is actively involved in shaping the new structure and we are looking forward to him joining the business in June."
