China Telecom has appointed its interim chairman and CEO Yang Jie to the chairman role on a permanent basis.
Yang Jie assumed the role of acting chairman and CEO following the resignation of the position’s previous occupant, Chang Xiaobing, who was arrested on suspicion of “severe disciplinary violations”. Chang joined China Telecom in August 2015 after ten years leading China Unicom. The alleged transgressions are believed to have occurred during this period.
Prior to this new appointment, Yang Jie held the position of president and COO at China Telecom. In addition to chairman, he will also hold the title of party committee chief. The operator has not stated whether Yang will retain his interim role as CEO or if the permanent position will be filled by another candidate.
The operator has also appointed Yang Xiaowei to the position of director and general manager. He will also take on the position of deputy chief of party committee. Prior to this appointment, he was an executive director and EVP.
China Telecom is the country’s number three player, taking a 15% share of the market. Over the past five quarters, the group has gained almost 16 million new mobile connections as well as increasing its 4G user base tenfold to 70 million, overtaking China Unicom’s 60 million 4G connections but still significantly trailing market leader China Mobile’s 365 million.
