By Chris Donkin
UK newspaper The Mail on Sunday claimed BT Group was assessing options for an executive to eventually replace current CEO Philip Jansen, who has been in place for more than four years.
The publication reported recruiters are drawing-up a shortlist of potential candidates, though the company has not indicated any immediate plans for its CEO to vacate the role.
Jansen succeeded Gavin Patterson at the helm of the company in February 2019. Prior to joining BT he had been co-CEO of payment processor Worldpay, having previously worked at UK cable company Telewest Communications.
Under his tenure so far BT has made further cost cuts within its business, continuing moves made under his predecessor.
In other changes to the make-up of its business, in 2022 it announced a restructure to its enterprise units and spun-off its sports broadcaster into a JV with Warner Bros Discovery.
Jansen has recently found himself at loggerheads with UK regulator Ofcom about comments made in a Financial Times article about the scale and ambition of its Openreach unit’s ongoing fibre network.
In an exchange published by the regulator last month, its CEO Melanie Dawes raised “significant concerns” about some of the remarks made in the article, reiterating the watchdog’s position on competition. In a letter sent from Jansen to Dawes, he said some of his comments had been taken out of context.
