Colin Giles, former executive vice president of Nokia, will reportedly join Huawei Device as senior vice president in July 2013.

The news has been confirmed by the Chinese telecom equipment maker.

In the new role, Giles will be responsible for Huawei Device's global sales, especially the establishment of the company's open social channels. Before leaving Nokia, Giles reportedly signed a one-year non-compete agreement with the Finnish phone maker; therefore, his new appointment will be officially effective from July.

At present, Huawei's mobile phones sold via open social channels account for about 15% of its total sold mobile phones, and the company aims to increase the rate to over 50% by 2015.

Compared with years ago when Nokia was at the top, the Chinese market has experienced huge changes and the traditional social channels have been seriously impacted. To make up the channel weakness of Huawei Device, Giles will need to re-adapt to the competition rules in the Chinese market while adapting to the enterprise culture and Chinese management style of Huawei.