The German government has picked veretan Deutsche Telekom AG manager Mr Gerd Tenzer to replace Chief Executive Mr Ron Sommer, who has become a liability for the ruling coalition ahead of September polls, a source said today.
"Tenzer will be proposed to the supervisory board on Tuesday," the source said.
Mr Tenzer's nomination ends a frantic week-long search for Mr Sommer's successor ahead of a supervisory board meeting on Tuesday, set to be stormy given that labour representatives on the body had backed the embattled chief executive.
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats decided to dump Mr Sommer this week after the conservative opposition, ahead in opinion polls, began to champion the cause of millions of German investors who own Telekom's ravaged shares. The government owns 43 per cent of Deutsche Telekom.
Sources said Mr Tenzer, a former civil servant and a Social Democrat, was likely to be only an interim solution before a long-term successor is found. They say that as an insider, he stood a good chance of winning crucial trade union backing.