BT Group Appoints Allison Kirkby as New Chief Executive
BT Group, the largest mobile and broadband supplier in Britain, announced on Monday that Allison Kirkby will replace Philip Jansen as chief executive. The transition is expected to take place by the end of January 2024 at the latest.
Kirkby, who has previously held executive positions at Swedish telecoms provider Telia, Virgin Media, and Denmark’s TDC, has been a member of the BT Group board for the past four years.
“I’m fully supportive of our strategy and am excited about leading it into its next phase of development, as we grow to support customers, shareholders, and the U.K. economy,” said Kirkby.
Jansen had announced earlier this month that he would step down from his role within the next 12 months. He will continue to assist with the transition until March 2024 before retiring.
Under Jansen’s leadership, BT made significant progress in building a national fibre network. The company offered discounted wholesale fibre pricing to major broadband providers in exchange for customer migration to the network. This approach was approved by U.K. telecoms regulator Ofcom in May.
“Openreach is now 44% of the way through its full fibre build, and customer demand has continued to grow with a total network take-up rate of 32%,” BT stated during its quarterly earnings release for the three-month period ending June 30. The company reported a 5% increase in adjusted EBITDA to £2 billion ($2.57 billion) and a pre-tax profit of £536 million, up 11%.