In an attempt to restore its fortunes, mobile phone maker Nokia has fired Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, its embattled chief executive and found a replacement in a senior Microsoft executive.

The company announced that Kallasvuo would leave his post next Monday. Nokia said that Kallasvuo will be replaced by Stephen Elop. Elop, who worked as the head of Microsoft's business division, will be the first person to lead Nokia who is not of Finnish nationality.

After the announcement, shares in the company jumped 5.8 per cent. Over the past few months, Kallasvuo has faced mounting pressure over his company's failure to compete against Apple's iPhone and new handsets running the Android operating system. The company announced that Elop was tapped to "complete the transformation" of the company.

"The time is right to accelerate the company's renewal; to bring in new executive leadership with different skills and strengths in order to drive company success. The Nokia board believes that Stephen has the right industry experience and leadership skills to realise the full potential of Nokia," the company said.

In his role as president of Microsoft's business division, Elop worked on the company's Office suite, its unified communications arm, and various applications for enterprise customers. Before joining Microsoft in 2008, Elop was the chief operating officer for Juniper Networks.