BERLIN (XFN-ASIA) - Deutsche Telekom AG's chief executive Kai-Uwe Ricke resigned on Sunday, the company said.
Ricke stepped down in the wake of a sharp fall in net earnings.
'Kai-Uwe Ricke steps down, in agreement with the executive committee of the monitoring council, from his post as president of Deutsche Telekom,' the company said in a statement.
'The monitoring council will consider the nomination of his successor tomorrow (Monday).'
The group on Thursday reported a 34 pct year-on-year fall in net earnings to 980 mln eur in the third quarter.
Deutsche Telekom has seen 1.5 mln fixed-line customers in Germany move to other operators already this year, while its mobile phone unit is expanding only thanks to its activities in the United States.
Its share price fell sharply in August after it was forced to revise its forecasts for 2006 and 2007, which caused heavy losses for one of Telekom's major shareholders, the US investment fund Blackstone.
Alongside Blackstone's 4.5 pct holding, the German state retains one third of the former state-run operator.
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