The Republic's third mobile phone operator has named the man charged with securing its long-term future. Mr David Sims, a former managing director of UK-based Orbitel Mobile Communications and one-time distributor for Vodafone in Australia, takes over as chief executive.

Speaking to The Irish Times on the first day of his new post, Mr Sims (44) said the opportunity to run an entire mobile phone organisation was something he didn't have to think too hard about.

"When the headhunter [from Meteor] rang up and said would you consider going to work in Dublin, that wasn't a very difficult question to answer," said Mr Sims, who is English. Mr Sims also said he was impressed with the Meteor management team after spending some time with them.

Although Mr Sims is the first person to be appointed as chief executive of Meteor, which finally introduced its 085 network last month, the job of running the company for the past two years has been the responsibility of chief operating officer Mr Pete Quinn. Meteor had decided to delay the process of appointing a chief executive while legal action continued over the awarding of the State's third mobile phone licence to the company.

Mr Sims comes to Meteor from Coventry-based Future Integrated Telephony, where he was chief executive. The company specialises in providing mobile, fixed resale and PABX services to small and medium-sized enterprises. Mr Sims has a degree in electronics and an MBA from Manchester University.

A chartered engineer and a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, he has held senior engineering, financial and marketing management positions in the automotive and telecommunications industries. In 1991, he was headhunted to run a loss-making 350-strong mobile phone manufacturing and design company called Orbitel, then jointly owned by Vodafone and Ericsson.

By the time Vodafone sold its share in the company to Ericsson in 1996, the company had 1,500 employees and a £200 million sterling (P317 million) turnover. He was then contracted by Vodafone for two years to establish a new chain of retail outlets and customer service centres in Australia, during which time he enhanced the company's presence in the market.

Although keen to stay in Australia after his contract expired, work visa problems forced him to return to UK in 1999, where he joined Future Integrated Telephony.

Mr Sims says he is very impressed with Meteor's progress so far and the speed with which it has rolled out its network. Although he had no figures for the number of subscribers to the 085 network to date, he reported that the sales department was pleased with the uptake.

Mr Sims' recent experience of the Australian mobile marketplace seems likely to prove useful over the next few months. In 1996, when he started his contract with Vodafone in Australia, the company was number three in the marketplace competing against two longer-established operators, including the state-owned company Telstra.