Motorola brings in chief to head mobile division

Motorola appointed Sanjay Jha to head up its mobile devices division. Jha was previously chief operating officer at chipset manufacturer Qualcomm.

He will be tasked with turning around the unit so it can operate as a standalone business before it is spun off from the group next year.

He will also be co-chief executive of the parent company and will share the responsibility with the current chief Greg Brown until the de-merger next year. Brown will take responsibility for Motorola’s other electronic divisions.

Prior to Jha’s appointment, Brown had been in charge of the entire company, including its mobile handset division, which has been posting heavy losses over the last few years.

In March this year, the handset maker announced it would split the phone division from the ones that make TV set-top boxes, cable modems, police radios and other telecommunications equipment.

The mobile handset unit has struggled to follow up its Razr model from 2004 and 2005.