Joe Garner‘s departure to the top job at Nationwide comes as the debate over the ownership of Openreach rumbles on, and the outgoing executive took the opportunity to comment on the future of the network when he announced his resignation.
Joe Garner is stepping down as CEO of BT’s (LON:BT) infrastructure division Openreach to take on the top job at British building society Nationwide in Spring 2016.
BT is now on the hunt for a successor to Garner, who has been in the role since February 2014.
Garner, whose departure comes as the debate over the ownership of Openreach rumbles on, commented on the future of the network when his resignation was announced.
“In my view, it is BT’s investment that has helped the UK to become one of the strongest digital economies in the world and I am proud to have contributed,” Garner said.
“Openreach is now poised to take the UK from a superfast to an ultrafast nation and I am confident it can achieve this as part of the BT family.”
On 15 November some of BT’s largest shareholders were quoted in a Sunday Telegraph report warning against any spin-off, also adding that such a move was unlikely.
Last week, on the other side of the argument, John Fingleton a former head of the Office of Fair Trading and now a paid adviser to fixed-line rival TalkTalk, said BT should voluntarily separate Openreach.
Speaking at an event sponsored by Sky, another BT rival, Fingleton said the dominance of incumbents had to be challenged to improve services and choice for consumers.
In July, communications regulator Ofcom said it was listening to the repeated requests from BT’s rivals for a structural separation of the infrastructure division, and is considering these as part of its strategic review of the UK’s digital communications.
Updating the industry on its progress on the review, which was announced in March, Ofcom said that separating Openreach from BT could “deliver competition or wider benefits for end users” and “remove BT’s underlying incentive to discriminate against competitors”, alongside simplifying existing regulation.
However, Ofcom said any separation “would be challenging and it may not address some concerns relating to Openreach – such as service quality, or the timing and level of investment decisions.”