UPDATE: Telkom Names Telecoms Veteran Hedberg Interim CEO

Telkom SA Ltd. (TKG.JO), South Africa's dominant fixed-line phone company, has appointed an industry veteran as its interim chief executive officer and agreed the company's outgoing leader should step aside until his official leaving date.

Jeffrey Hedberg will be acting CEO and Reuben September, whose retirement from the company was announced last month, will assume a consulting role until Nov. 1, Telkom said.

The company has begun looking for a successor to September, and said the outgoing CEO would step down now because of "uncertainty that prevails during such transition periods."

Hedberg, named one of the top 25 global executives under 40 by Fortune Magazine in 2001, was a year ago appointed CEO of Telkom's struggling Multi-Links unit in Nigeria. He was previously CEO of Cell C Ltd., South Africa's No. 3 mobile-phone operator, which he helped turn around. He also served several senior positions at Deutsche Telekom AG (DTE.XE) and Swisscom AG (SCMN.VX).

"Apart from Jeffrey's exposure to and understanding of the telecommunications industry in a global context, he has also proven his effectiveness in dealing with analysts, investors, government departments and the markets," September said of him in July 2009.

Telkom in early June said Reuben September would step down when his contract expires in November.

September has been with the former state monopoly for more than three decades, and has been CEO since November 2007, a period during which the company's fortunes have waned amid stiffening competition. He led the disposal of Telkom's 50% stake in mobile operator Vodacom Group Ltd. (VOD.JO), which had been its earnings driver and is now majority owned by Vodafone Group PLC (VOD).

-By Robb M. Stewart, Dow Jones Newswires; [phone]; [e-mail]