Ericsson’s executive shuffle continued this week as the Swedish telecom vendor named Christophe Van de Weyer as head of its business area global communications platform and CEO of its Vonage division and a seat on Ericsson’s executive team.

Van de Weyer joined Vonage early last year and was serving as president and head of Vonage’s API business unit. The executive had previously served as CEO of Proximus Group’s U.S. subsidiary Telesign, which came after nearly two decades spent at consulting firm Bain & Company.

The move will see Van de Weyer replace long-standing Ericsson executive Niklas Heuveldop, who in a statement noted the “time has come for me to move on and pursue my next challenge.” Heuveldop has served as Vonage CEO for more than two years, with previous stints as CEO of Ericsson North America and chief strategy officer for the vendor’s emerging business unit.

The official swap is set to become official August 15.

Ericsson CEO Börje Ekholm provided notable prepared remarks on the move.

“Christophe brings a deep understanding of the market for communication services and he has done a great job getting the business unit API at Vonage back to growth,” Ekholm noted in a statement on the change. “I’m happy to welcome him to the executive team and to accelerate the turnaround efforts. This is another good example of a well prepared and orderly succession for critical members of the leadership team.”

Ericsson acquired Vonage for $6.2 billion in late 2021, a deal that quickly drew skeptics that questioned how an enterprise-focused API company fit into the vendor’s telecommunications equipment operations. That view was quickly bolstered as Ericsson moved to write down most of that investment, with Ekholm falling on his sword in front of investors, though asking for patience.

Vonage’s financial impact remains muted, though the division has bolstered Ericsson’s position within the slowly maturing telecom API ecosystem. A recent ABI Research report noted the vendor’s API platform served more than 100 communication service provider (CSPs) deployments globally, and a developer ecosystem exceeding 1.7 million registered developers‌.

Executive moves on unstable ground

Ekholm himself is set to be replaced as CEO on October 1 after nine years in that position and fully leave the company next June. Reports surfaced last year that his position was under threat due to a falling out with the Wallenberg family, Ericsson’s biggest shareholders, though Ericsson insiders who spoke to SDxCentral sister publication DCD said his departure had been expected within the company.

Ekholm will be replaced by long-time company executive Per Narvinger, who has spent his entire career with Ericsson, including long-term assignments in Australia and Spain. Most recently, he has headed the company’s networks division, having previously led its cloud software business area.

Ericsson recently named David Hammarwall to replace Narvinger.

Those executive changes come on the heels of Ericsson reporting another quarter of inconsistent results and ongoing job cuts. Those earnings included a drop in overall sales and another round of internal restructuring to “mitigate component cost inflation.”

Ekholm told investors that the impact of rising costs is expected to build in the coming quarters, but that the vendor “will continue to pursue internal measures and pricing actions to help offset the effect.”