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In a statement, Telia chairman Lars-Johan Jarnheimer said he regretted Kirkby’s decision to step down, adding that she had led the company at an “important and challenging time”.
The appointment also comes at the expense of Allera, the boss of BT’s consumer brands EE and Plusnet who was widely viewed as the frontrunner to succeed Jansen. Having turned around customer service and offloaded the weight of BT Sport with a sale to the US broadcaster Discovery, his stock has been high.
Carl Murdock-Smith, an analyst at Berenberg, describes Allera as the “favourite” for the role, adding he “would not be surprised” if he decides to leave.
Egan says Kirkby’s appointment “feels like a bit of a board coup”, pointing out how quickly it followed Jansen’s recent comments that the race to roll out full-fibre broadband would “end in tears” for BT’s rivals.
She adds: “It’s a little bit like when somebody suddenly has a new girlfriend within a week of splitting up with their last one.”
Crucially, though, BT’s choice of chief executive highlights the priorities of the company’s board – and its shareholders.
Kirkby is entering BT at a challenging time for the group, which has seen its share price slump almost 50pc in the last five years as it pumps £15bn into its broadband network upgrade.
With a market value of little over £12bn, BT is now worth less than it paid to buy mobile network EE in 2016.
Kirkby will be tasked with overseeing the full-fibre rollout programme, which aims to reach 25m premises by the end of 2026. Her tenure will likely also be defined by the rise of AI, in which BT is likely to play a major role.
Another major feature of the job will be managing relations with the Government, regulators and unions – a stakeholder struggle that often got the better of Jansen. Philippa Childs, deputy general secretary of the Prospect union, wasted no time in stating that the new boss must invest in the workforce and keep working with unions.
But most fundamental will be the need to push through the 55,000 job cuts required under BT’s euphemistically-named transformation plan.
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