BT Openreach CEO Garfield to leave company

Liv Garfield, CEO of BT Openreach (NYSE: BT), will leave the UK incumbent telco this spring after nearly three years on the job. She will take the CEO post at Severn Trent.

Liv Garfield, Openreach

Garfield (Image source: BT)

Garfield became BT Openreach's CEO in April 2011, replacing Steve Robertson, who had led Openreach since the UK incumbent service provider founded the division in 2005 under a government mandate.

During her tenure at Openreach, Garfield spearheaded the telco's expansion of its fiber-based broadband service, which is delivered via its hybrid copper/fiber to the cabinet (FTTC) and fiber to the home (FTTH) platforms, from about 4 million premises to over 17 million. Also, the number of customers that subscribe to the fiber-based broadband service has risen from 100,000 to over 2 million.

As the organization that oversees BT's last mile copper networks, Openreach has expanded the number of unbundled local loop (ULL) lines that it sells to competitors such as Talk Talk from 7.6 million in April 2011 to 9 million.

"It is a huge wrench to leave Openreach but I feel the time is now right to take on a fresh challenge," Garfield said in a release. "Our commercial programme to bring fibre broadband to two thirds of UK premises is almost complete, whilst BT's public sector broadband partnerships are making good progress."

Although Openreach revenue declined 1 percent during its recent second quarter financial reporting period due to regulatory price changes, fiber broadband revenue more than doubled. It began rolling out in another 13 communities including Cornwall, North Yorkshire, Wales, Surrey and Rutland, passing more than 100,000 premises. 

BT said that they will announce a successor "in due course."

Garfield is not the only BT executive to recently leave the UK-based telco. Earlier this year, BT CEO Ian Livingston resigned to take up a new post as the British Minister for Trade and Investment. 

For more:
- see the release

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