Ben Verwaayen, who spent six years as CEO of BT, is joining Alcatel-Lucent as chief executive.

Verwaayen will work with Philippe Camus, who starts as Chairman on 1 October. He was credited with helping BT's apparent turnaround, moving from a voice to broadband provider and cutting jobs in the process.

Alcatel-Lucent's previous CEO Patricia Russo and chairman Serge Tchuruk announced their departure in July, after reporting a €1.1bn loss for the second quarter. The company has struggled since its merger in 2006. In many ways the company looks like BT did in 2002 - in need of urgent help.

The Dutch man spent six years at BT and previously worked for Lucent Technologies in the US, KPN in the Netherlands and ITT. He will work from Alcatel-Lucent's Paris office. The official release is here. ®

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