Ben Verwaayen, the new chief executive of Alcatel-Lucent, on Tuesday pledged he would not “take any prisoners” in his battle to end the cultural and management rivalries that have dogged the Franco-American telecoms equipment supplier since its ill-fated merger two years ago.

Three months after quitting as head of UK group BT, Mr Verwaayen stepped up to one of the most challenging jobs in the telecoms industry with a pledge to accelerate integration and innovation in the group created from the merger of France’s Alcatel and Lucent of the US.