28th Nov 2016 22:35
LONDON (Alliance News) - Telecoms giant BT Group PLC on Monday said it has appointed a former board member of UK communications industry regulator Ofcom as the first chairman of its Openreach network infrastructure business.
BT said Mike McTighe, who spent eight years on the board of Ofcom, will become chairman of Openreach from January. He left the Ofcom board in 2015. Prior to this, he held executive roles with UK telecoms company Cable & Wireless, Dutch electronics group Koninklijke Philips NV and with US conglomerate General Electric Co.
In July, BT agreed to implement governance changes with a view to making Openreach more independent and transparent, amid calls from rivals for Openreach to be split out of BT Group as the group was accused of under-investing in the UK's broadband network infrastructure.
"I am delighted that Mike has agreed to be the first chairman of Openreach. He has extensive experience and I am sure Openreach will benefit from his detailed industry and regulatory knowledge," said BT Chairman Michael Rake.
"We promised in July to create an Openreach board and we are delivering on that promise. I remain hopeful this significant move by BT can help to underpin a sustainable, proportionate and fair regulatory settlement that is in the interests of the whole country," Rake added.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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