Cheung to go as PCCW's No. 2


Richard Li, above, has confirmed Mike Butcher will be his new deputy at PCCW

Staff and wires

HONG KONG, China -- Hong Kong's dominant telco, Pacific Century CyberWorks said Monday William Cheung Kung-ham has resigned as chief operating officer and will be replaced by former Lucent Technologies executive Mike Butcher.

Cheung, 51, is a telecom veteran, having joined the then-Hongkong Telecom in 1971. PCCW took over HKT in 2000.

PCCW spokeswoman Joan Wagner confirmed media reports that chairman Richard Li had notified staff of the change in a letter, Reuters reported.

Butcher left Lucent in December , where he was president of international operations. As chief operating officer of PCCW, Butcher, 53, will be seen as a potential successor to 35-year-old Li for the CEO spot.

Last month PCCW reported a better than expected 2001 net profit of $243 million. But a week later, it announced it would lay off 858 staff in a bid to cut costs. PCCW employed 14,000 staff at the end of 2001.

Compulsory redundancies

"We have reached the regrettable but unavoidable decision that there is no choice but to make further compulsory redundancies," Li said in a letter to staff on March 25.

He cited continuing sluggishness in the Hong Kong economy and intensifying competition in the fixed-line sector.

The company announced about 950 job cuts in 2001 and said it was possible there would be further layoffs.

Shares in PCCW were down 3 cents of 1.5 percent to $HK1.96 by Monday afternoon.