APPOINTMENTS: Am-beo, a Galway-based provider of telecoms billing software, has poached three senior executives from Swedish telecoms giant Ericsson in just six months.

The departures follow a difficult period for Ericsson Ireland, which shed 40 jobs on the eve of Christmas and is seeking at least 90 additional redundancies.

Am-beo will shortly announce the appointment of Mr Eoin Leahy, formerly general manager of Ericsson's telecom management systems business unit, as its new chief technology officer.

Mr Leahy will have responsibility for product strategy and the global research and development functions within the company, which develops rating and billing software for telecoms firms.

Founded in 2000, Am-beo is a privately held firm with offices in Galway, Ireland and New York in the US.

The announcement comes just a few months after the appointments of two other former Ericsson executives, Mr Stephen Murphy and Mr Richard Choi.

Mr Murphy was appointed Am-beo's vice-president of professional services in December. He previously worked as general manager for Ericsson Ireland's customer services centre.

Last August, Mr Choi was appointed vice-president of sales at Am-beo.

He was previously the general manager of the customer management practice in Ericsson's global services division.

Ericsson, which employs 2,000 people at facilities in Dublin and Athlone, was criticised by several employees this week about its decision to lay people off just prior to the Christmas holidays.

A number of employees contacted The Irish Times to complain about the layoffs, which occurred on the last working day before Christmas.

The layoffs are part of a global efficiency programme, involving 17,000 redundancies worldwide, announced by the group in March.

An Ericsson spokesman did not respond to calls yesterday.