The former head of Virgin Mobile will become chief executive of Orange, Britain’s third-biggest mobile operator, after the group’s third management shake-up in six months.

Tom Alexander will take over in December from Bernard Ghillebaert, who has been in the role for three years.

The move comes after a recent drop in profitability at the UK business. Results for the six months to June 30 revealed an operating profit of €712 million, down 8.6 per cent against the same time last year.

Mr Ghillebaert recently conceded that the Orange brand had lost its way in the competitive British mobile market. Orange UK lost out to O2 on the deal to market Apple’s iPhone. In its heyday under Hans Snook, the chief executive, the Orange brand was a market leader, with investors lapping up the group’s visionary presentations about mobile phones becoming a “remote control for life”.

Industry insiders believe that Orange has not recovered from losing its independence when it was bought by France Télécom for £25.1 billion in May 2000.

Olaf Swantee, who recently became head of Orange’s global operations, said that the British business needed “an injection of new ideas and a fresh approach” to help it to regain its former glory. He said that Orange, which has a market share of 21.6 per cent by retail revenues, compared with Vodafone’s market-leading 27 per cent, would seek to differentiate itself from its rivals through better customer service and by making its operations more efficient.

The new appointment is the latest in a series of shake-ups at Orange. In April Sanjiv Ahuja left his post as head of Orange’s global mobile operations. Last month Eric Abensur, head of Orange UK’s broadband operations, left the business.

Mr Alexander resigned from Virgin Mobile last year, with a £6 million pay-off, after it merged with NTL/ Telewest, the cable group, to become Virgin Media. He is believed to have felt reluctant to stay on in the mobile operations, which he built from scratch with the backing of Sir Richard Branson, once they had lost their independence. Mr Alexander said at the time that he wanted to concentrate more on motor racing, his hobby, and to spend more time with his family.

Mr Swantee said that Mr Alexander, who has also worked at Cellnet, BT’s mobile unit, had the necessary “big brand” experience to make an impact in his new job and had a firm grip on the British mobile market.

Mr Ghillebaert, who joined Orange from Mobistar, which he had helped to set up in 1995, will assume a new role within France Télécom.

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