UPDATE 2-Nokia Siemens names GM's Luca Maestri as CFO

(Adds CFO quotes, details)

By Tarmo Virki

HELSINKI, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Nokia Siemens Networks [NSN.UL] named Luca Maestri as its chief financial officer to take over from retiring turnaround specialist Eric Simonsen from the start of November.

Simonsen told Reuters in May his eventual departure from the company would be a sign the restructuring phase was over and things are progressing well. [ID:nL21433371]

"His expertise and wisdom have been instrumental in the execution of a successful merger process in very tough circumstances," Nokia Siemens Networks CEO Simon Beresford-Wylie said in a statement on Thursday.

Maestri will join Nokia Siemens from General Motors Corp (GM.N), where he most recently held the position of CFO of its European business.

"The company is ready for a more traditional CFO," Simonsen told Reuters. "When I joined, restructuring and post-merger integration was already on the top of the list and everyone was focusing on that."

Nokia Siemens Networks -- a 50-50 joint venture of the world's top cellphone maker Nokia (NOK1V.HE) and German conglomerate Siemens (SIEGn.DE) -- started operations in April 2007 and shortly after launched a large lay-off programme. The 2-billion-euro plan, which includes up to 9,000 job cuts, is set to be completed this year.

"As we, and Nokia, said at the end of the second quarter, we remain on track to do this," Simonsen said.

Nokia Siemens, Ericsson (ERICb.ST) and Alcatel-Lucent (ALUA.PA) are the leading players in the telecoms network market but have been increasingly challenged by Chinese vendors Huawei [HWT.UL] and ZTE (0763.HK) in the last few years.

"The competition has remained challenging," Simonsen said.

Shares in Nokia were up 0.5 percent at 14.25 euros at 1217 GMT, bucking recent weakness following a third-quarter handset market share warning and outperforming a softer Dow Jones Stoxx Tech index .SX8P. (Editing by Rory Channing and Jon Loades-Carter)