BERLIN (AFP) - Deutsche Telekom, the biggest European telecommunications company, named the head of its mobile division Rene Obermann as its new chief executive with the aim of halting a haemorrhage of fixed-line subscribers.

The company appointed Obermann, 43, to replace Kai-Uwe Ricke who resigned suddenly late on Sunday after coming under pressure from investors because of poor results.

About 1.5 million fixed-line customers in Germany have left Deutsche Telekom to move to other operators already this year, while T-Mobile is expanding only thanks to its activities in the United States.

Obermann told a press conference at the company's Bonn headquarters that Deutsche Telekom faced a tough task but was in good shape after an extensive cost-cutting programme.

"The business conditions will remain difficult in the future. It is no secret that we face heavy competition and immense cost pressures," Obermann said.

Shares in the group showed a gain of 2.47 percent at 13.50 euros in midafternoon trading, the biggest gain on the Frankfurt stock market.

"We think that Rene Obermann is a credible successor," said analysts at the bank Dresdner Kleinwort.

Nevertheless "don't expected major changes at Deutsche Telekom," the analysts added in their research note, "Mr Ricke and Mr Obermann have been colleagues for a long time and worked closely together".

Deutsche Telekom, in common with some other former state monopolies in fixed-line telephony, is finding that a move by consumers into mobile or Internet-based calling is cutting into its traditional client base.

"Deutsche Telekom's main challenge is addressing the fixed line business, and this is difficult without the support of the unions," said analysts at US investment bank Merrill Lynch.

Ricke lost the support of investors because of a string of poor financial results, including a profit warning in August, but also faced opposition from trade unions that are fighting the job cuts.

His departure after four years in charge was hastened on Thursday when the group reported a 34-percent fall in net earnings to 980 million euros (1.26 billion dollars) in the third quarter compared with the equivalent figure last year.

Obermann, a successful telecoms entrepreneur before joining the group, has built the mobile division T-Mobile into the most profitable part of Deutsche Telekom's activities.

He inherits the task of getting the former state monopoly back on the tracks in Germany and, almost a decade since its privatisation, to lift its share price.

Telekom is in the midst of a three-year plan to shed 32,000 jobs from its 244,000 workforce.

Ricke had been at the helm of Deutsche Telekom since 2002 and his contract ran until next year. In September, Telekom's supervisory board, headed by Deutsche Post head Klaus Zumwinkel, pledged its confidence in the chief executive as he faced persistent rumours that he was about to be sacked.

But Zumwinkel and the rest of the supervisory board, including the US investment fund Blackstone, which holds 4.5 percent of Telekom's capital, lost patience with Ricke despite the fact that the share price has risen 21 percent in three months.

The head of a shareholder lobby, Reinhild Keitel, described Ricke's departure as a logical step.

"The rapid development in the fixed-line business threatens Telekom's means of existence. Ricke found no answer to that," Keitel said in Monday's Berliner Zeitung newspaper.

Alongside Blackstone's 4.5-percent holding, the German state retains one third of the former state-run operator.

Ricke's departure is systematic of a turbulent time in the European telecommunications market -- Marco Tronchetti Provera of Telecom Italia left his job in September, there has been a management shake-up within France Telecom and Arun Sarin of Vodafone faced intense pressures this summer.