BT Appoints Openreach Directors -- Update
February 01 2017 - 7:29AM
Dow Jones News
By Simon Zekaria and Tapan Panchal
LONDON--BT Group PLC (BT.A.LN) said Wednesday that it had
appointed Brendan Barber and Edward Astle as independent
nonexecutive directors of Openreach, the British telecommunications
group's infrastructure division, amid the company's ongoing talks
with regulator Ofcom over the future of the arm.
The company said the new directors will oversee strategy,
investment and service delivery at Openreach.
Mr. Barber was previously the general secretary of the Trades
Union Congress and is currently the chairman of employment
relations service the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration
Service. Mr. Astle is a former board member of power transmission
network owner National Grid PLC (NG.LN).
The appointments join a new board, headed by independent
Openreach Chairman Mike McTighe. BT said an unnamed fourth
independent nonexecutive would be announced imminently.
"Establishing the new board is central to governance reforms
that Openreach has been implementing to become a more transparent
and autonomous business. The reorganization program will create
increased operational and management independence for Openreach,"
BT said in a statement.
Openreach Chief Executive Clive Selley, Openreach Chief Finance
Officer Clare Sadlier and BT Group Finance Director Simon Lowth
will also join the board, BT said.
Ofcom is pursuing the legal separation of Openreach on
competition grounds. BT says keeping control of Openreach, which
runs the country's network of telecom lines, is key to investment
in broadband infrastructure.
Last week, BT shares fell sharply after it announced a
deeper-than-expected accounting scandal in Italy that forced the
company to take a write-down of £530 million ($670 million).
Write to Simon Zekaria at simon.zekaria@wsj.com and Tapan
Panchal at tapan.panchal@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 01, 2017 07:14 ET (12:14 GMT)
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