China's Big Three telecom carriers saw the biggest leadership reshuffle in more than a decade as the government changed the top executives of the three carriers on Monday.

Shang Bing, former vice-minister of the telecom watchdog the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, will take over China Mobile Ltd while Xi Guohua, its former head, retires, the company said.

Xi is 64 years old.

The top leaders of the smaller China Telecom Corp Ltd and China United Network Communications Group Co Ltd, or China Unicom will be replaced as well, according to the companies.

It was the first time in 11 years that the heads of the nation's top carriers were replaced. Leadership of the Big Three, all State-owned enterprises, are appointed by the Central government.

Related story: Telecom giants deny merger plans

The country's major network operators including China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom denied knowledge of any merger plans on Thursday amid market speculations that pushed their stocks high.

Chinese industry magazine Mobile Info posted news on Thursday on its official microblog that claimed that China Telecom will merge with China Unicom, and China Mobile with Broadcast TV Network.

"The company hasn't heard of it and will not comment," said a spokesman of China Unicom to China Daily.

China Mobile and China Telecom also denied any merger plan in a written statement to the press.

China Unicom surged 8.4 percent, and Broadcast TV Network 6.3 percent on Thursday. China Telecom gained 2.3 percent at Hong Kong exchange as of 3 pm.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology denied the rumor, adding that there was no such plan in the telecom sector, according to CCTV.