China Telecom, the country’s third largest operator, announced today that its interim CEO Yang Jie was appointed CEO and Yang Xiaowei, an EVP, was named president and COO effective immediately.

Earlier in the month Yang Jie, who was previously president and COO, was also named chairman, while Yang Xiaowei was appointed director and general manager.

China Telecom-yang_jieYang Jie (pictured) took over at the end of December after Chang Xiaobing resigned as chairman and CEO after being detained on suspicion of “severe disciplinary violations”. Sources said the investigation of Chang stems from activity during his more than ten years as head of rival operator China Unicom. He joined China Telecom last August.

China Telecom’s new board comprises: Yang Jie (CEO, chairman), Yang Xiaowei (president, COO), Zhang Jiping (EVP), Sun Kangmin (EVP), Ke Ruiwen (EVP) as executive directors; Zhu Wei as a non-executive director; and Tse Hau Yin, Cha May Lung, Xu Erming and Wang Hsuehming as independent non-executive directors.

The operator holds its annual general meeting on Thursday.