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LONDON -- Sir John Bond, Vodafone Group PLC's incoming chairman, arrives at a tumultuous time for the world's largest cellphone-service provider by sales.

The company faces intensifying competition, threats from new technologies such as Internet calling as well as regulatory price cuts. Meanwhile, Arun Sarin, Vodafone's chief executive officer since July 2003, has fielded criticism about his international strategy from some large institutional shareholders that are frustrated at seeing the company's shares fall.

Analysts say Sir John, until recently chairman of giant U.K. bank HSBC Holdings PLC, could help with at least some of those issues by injecting stimulus for new strategic focus and helping smooth over rifts between shareholders and Mr. Sarin and even any within the company itself. Sir John succeeds Ian MacLaurin, 69 years old, who helped oversee Vodafone's heady expansion during his time as chairman for most of the past eight years.

However, the fast-moving cellphone industry will present a different set of challenges for the former banker. And there is a limit to what he can do to fix Vodafone's woes, given that the company finds itself in a rapidly maturing industry and that many of its core markets in Europe already are saturated with service providers, impeding customer growth.

"Hopefully he can be a totem for change," says Robert Grindle, an analyst at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein. But "he can't solve the problems facing the telecoms industry today." Shares of Vodafone have slumped in the past year; in New York Stock Exchange trading yesterday, American depositary shares of Vodafone rose 4 cents to $21.71, down 23% from their 52-week high of $28.14.

Vodafone spokesman Bobby Leach declined to discuss what changes Sir John may make. "The company is constantly changing and evolving," Mr. Leach said. "We live in a fast-moving industry."

Born and educated in the U.K., Sir John started his career at HSBC as a 19-year-old trainee in 1961. He worked his way up to become chief executive in 1993 and chairman in 1998, a position from which he retired in May. Sir John, 64, has a reputation within the banking industry for being urbane, athletic and fond of driving his silver Porsche.

Sir John has been a member of Vodafone's board since January 2005. He also is a nonexecutive director of Ford Motor Co. -- alongside Jorma Ollila, chairman of one of Vodafone's major suppliers, cellphone maker Nokia Corp. The skills Sir John brings from his time at HSBC include increasing the volume of business with existing customers and finding more-profitable customers, as well as running a British company with a global business.

Based in Newbury, England, Vodafone has spent heavily to build an empire that now spans 27 countries across Europe, the U.S., Africa and Asia. It recently exited from Japan and says it is flexible about its position in the U.S., where it holds a 45% stake in Verizon Wireless. Verizon Communications Inc. owns the rest.

Sir John may encourage Vodafone CEO Mr. Sarin to take a more radical approach to change, predicts Credit Suisse analyst Justin Funnell in a recent research report. Sir John "may therefore be a catalyst for a sale of the U.S., along with other strategic decisions."

Sir John also brings experience in taking a business in new directions -- at a time when the cellphone-centric Vodafone is experimenting with expanding into different areas, such as service bundled with broadband Internet access, and looking at advertising as a new revenue stream. At HSBC, Sir John led a dramatic shift in the bank's profile by expanding consumer-finance operations in the U.S., Mexico and Brazil. His arrival at Vodafone coincides with efforts by some of Vodafone's peers, such as Japan's NTT DoCoMo Inc., to combine cellphones and financial services.

Changes on Vodafone's board are expected. Four directors -- including Lord MacLaurin -- plan to retire after the company's annual general meeting July 25, when Sir John assumes the chairman's job. As newly appointed heads of Vodafone's two geographic divisions, executives William Morrow and Paul Donovan are potential candidates.

Vodafone has undergone a recent shake-up of its senior ranks, prompting speculation about a power struggle at the top of the company and on the board. Over the past year or so, three senior executives considered to be members of the old guard associated with Mr. Sarin's predecessor, Sir Christopher Gent, have left. In a foreword to Vodafone's recently published annual report, Lord MacLaurin dismissed reports of splits between directors, saying "there are no factions within the board."

"Changing the chairman will help challenge the way the company is run and put the management team on its toes," says Andrew O'Neill, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein.