Combes reported to be moving to Altice following conclusion of Alcatel-Lucent acquisition

Alcatel-Lucent’s outgoing chief executive, Michel Combes, is reportedly set to join Europe’s communications group Altice, once the sale of the French vendor to Nokia is completed.

According to Challenges magazine, Combes, who announced his resignation as an independent non-executive director at Altice last week, will be brought in to lead the company’s telecom development in Europe.

The company beefed up its European telecom operations over the past year by acquiring Portugal Telecom’s Portuguese assets from Brazil’s Oi, and taking control of French mobile player SFR from Vivendi.

Alcatel-Lucent confirmed that Combes will be stepping down as a result of the Nokia deal but did not announce his next engagement, or departure date. He said in April he would not be taking a role at the combined Nokia-AlcaLu entity, once the €15.6 billion (US$16.6 billion) deal is completed.

Combes joined Alcatel-Lucent in 2013 in a bid to turnaround the troubled vendor’s fortunes following a tumultuous period under predecessor Ben Verwaayen.

Combes has been integral to the company’s sale to Nokia. The revival he inspired is seen as the reason why Nokia decided to take over the whole company, not just its mobile business, thus securing the vendor’s long-term position.

Combes joined Alcatel-Lucent after spending four years as CEO of Vodafone Europe, at a time when he was also courted by SFR, then owned by Vivendi, who named him as the company’s new chief executive in 2012, before the appointment broke down due to a management shakeup.

Altice, owned by billionaire Patrick Drahi, will look to Combes’ European telecom experience to integrate its newly acquired businesses.

Altice is also expanding into the US cable market. It recently announced the acquisition of US regional cable operator Suddenlink Communications for US$9.1 billion, after dropping interests in Time Warner Cable.