Major mobile network vendor Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) today announced that its CEO Simon Beresford-Wylie is to step down and be replaced by current head of services, Rajeev Suri (pictured, left). The new head man (aged 41) will assume his role from 1 October. Beresford-Wylie is expected to leave the mobile industry in November after 27 years in the telecoms infrastructure sector. He led Nokia’s network business group from February 2005 and took the position of CEO of NSN when it commenced operations as a merged entity (with Germany’s Siemens) in 2007. A company statement focused heavily on Beresford-Wylie’s work in integrating the two businesses.

Suri faces challenges in ensuring future success for the company. The telecoms equipment market has seen fierce competition for new business during the past few years, driven by Chinese vendors such as Huawei and ZTE, and the outlook remains tough. Rival Alcatel-Lucent has forecast a market decline of 8-12 percent this year, whilst NSN has said the market will fall approximately 10 percent. Research group Dell’Oro said yesterday that the mobile gear market shrank 12 percent in April-June from a year ago, with revenue for the total mobile infrastructure market forecast to contract 10 percent in 2009.