Internet telephone provider Skype has appointed a top executive at Cisco, Tony Bates, as its new Chief Executive Officer.

Bates, who runs Cisco's enterprise, commercial and small business division, will join Skype at the end of October, the company said in a statement on Monday.

Adrian Dillon, Skype's Chief Financial and Administrative Officer, will serve as interim CEO until Bates joins the company.

With over 20 years of experience in the communications and Internet industry, Bates has served on the boards of a range of technology companies, including YouTube, TokBox, BubbleMotion and LoveFilm.

"We are thrilled to bring on Tony Bates as Skype's new CEO," said Miles Flint, the chairman of the company's board of directors.

"His record of achievement and significant operational and management expertise, cultivated over a distinguished tenure at one of the world's preeminent technology companies, presents a unique opportunity for Skype that we are enthusiastic to embrace," Flint added.

Skype has over 560 million registered users in nearly every country. Skype is majority-owned by an investor group, led by Silver Lake Partners, which bought most of eBay Inc's stake for USD 1.9 billion, though the online marketplace still owns a part of the company.

Incidentally, micro-blogging site Twitter today named Dick Costolo as its new Chief Executive Officer after the incumbent CEO, Evan Williams, stepped down.