Vodafone Ireland will appoint a new chief executive to replace Mr Paul Donovan following a restructuring of the mobile phone operator's management structure.

The company, which has 1.8 million subscribers in the Republic, confirmed yesterday it had already begun a management search to find a new chief executive for the Republic.

As part of Vodafone Group's reshuffle, Mr Donovan, who has been chief executive of Vodafone Ireland for more than three years, will now take on responsibility for 10 countries in Europe, Middle East and Africa.

His promotion is part of a management shake-up at the world's biggest mobile phone group and is designed to speed up decision making and tighten the current chief executive, Mr Aurin Sarin's, grip on the company.

The new management structure at Vodafone Group, which will be put in place in January 2005, will see the heads of operations in major countries and all business areas reporting directly to Mr Sarin.

Mr Sarin said he was creating an organisation that was better positioned to respond to the high expectations of customers.

Mr Julian Horn-Smith, Vodafone's current chief operating officer, will assume the position of deputy chief executive under the new management structure.

Mr Andy Halford from US-based Verizon Wireless is to take over as finance director from Mr Ken Hydon when he retires on July 26th, next.

Meanwhile, Mr Donovan told The Irish Times yesterday he thought the most significant achievement during his tenure as chief executive in Ireland was the successful integration of Eircell into Vodafone.

"Vodafone is now one of Ireland's strongest brands and the firm has launched a whole range of new services into the market."

Mr Donovan reiterated his view that the Irish mobile market is very competitive and mobile firms offered good value to customers.