Mobile giant Vodafone has changed the leadership of its struggling Japanese division.
A statement said Bill Morrow, currently head of Vodafone UK, would become president of Vodafone KK, which has fallen behind top-ranked Japanese firms NTT DoCoMo and KDDI.
Vodafone KK's subscribers declined by 58,700 in January after growing by a measly 900 in December, the Japanese division's head Shiro Tsuda told a news conference. Tsuda, who had been brought in last year, will from April 1 become the executive chairman, a mostly symbolic role.
Tsuda, a former senior executive vice president at NTT DoCoMo, defected to Vodafone after being passed over to be president of Japan's top mobile company.
Tsuda attributed the decline in subscribers last month to delays in introducing third generation handsets and in expanding the company's 3G network.
