As part of its overhaul of its struggling UK unit, Deutsche Telekom (NYSE: DT) announced today that it had appointed Richard Moat, former CEO of Orange Romania, as its new managing director. Moat, a Briton, who steps into the job in June, replaces American Jim Hyde, who left the company in March for “personal reasons.” Moat was at France Telecom’s Orange Group. Aside from his five year stint in Romania, he has been CEO of Orange Denmark and Orange Thailand.

SEE ALSO: Merger With Orange Another Alternative For Struggling T-Mobile UK

Moat will have quite a task on his hands. As posted earlier, T-Mobile UK dragged down Deutsche Telekom’s earnings after its parent company wrote down 1.8 billion euros ($2.4 billion) on the ailing unit. Last week, it was reported that Deutsche Telekom’s two largest shareholders, the German government and private equity group Blackstone, were growing impatient with the unit’s poor performance and were pressuring DT to get rid of it. First quarter revenues, meanwhile, plunged 21 percent to 836 million euros ($1.11 billion), as customer defected to other operators, leaving T-Mobile UK with 16.675 million customers at the end of March. Part of the “action plan” for T-Mobile UK as outlined in DT’s earnings presentation today is a cost cutting program, which includes a salary freeze, a reduction in marketing budget, and new investments. It plans to concentrate more heavily on Sim-only tariffs and cross-selling mobile broadband services to customers. (Release).