Nokia appointed former Ericsson executive Nishant Batra as its new chief strategy and technology officer, as CEO Pekka Lundmark begins to rebuild his executive team ahead of a string of forthcoming departures.

Batra will join the company in mid-January, taking over CTO responsibilities from Marcus Weldon, one of a number of high-profile executives set to leave Nokia as Lundmark imposes a massive business restructure.

The incoming executive spent 12 years at Ericsson, where he held several roles before rising to become head of product area Networks in 2016. He left the Swedish network vendor in 2018 to join automotive company Veoneer as CTO, a job he still holds.

Alongside his current role, he has acted as an adviser for open RAN technology specialist Mavenir for the last two years. This experience is likely to prove vital given Lundmark’s identification of virtual and open networking technology as central to the turnaround plan for Nokia’s network division.

In a statement, Nokia noted Batra had “extensive experience with complex systems based on cutting-edge silicon technology and both embedded as well as cloud-based software”.

Lundmark added: “He is a proven leader bringing with him a wealth of experience from technology to telecoms, as well as deep knowledge of our core CSP customers, the enterprise sector, and the emerging trends in the global market.”

Batra, who will have Nokia Bell Labs included in his remit, will initially be based in Finland before moving to the US.