Kitz Forum

Announcements => News Articles => Topic started by: Bowdon on June 08, 2018, 10:37:21 AM

Title: BT Group CEO Gavin Patterson is to Step Down Later in 2018
Post by: Bowdon on June 08, 2018, 10:37:21 AM
https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2018/06/bt-group-ceo-gavin-patterson-is-to-step-down-later-in-2018.html (https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2018/06/bt-group-ceo-gavin-patterson-is-to-step-down-later-in-2018.html)

Quote
After a difficult couple of years the BT Group has today announced that their Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Gavin Patterson, will be stepping down later this year and the board has already commenced a search to identify his successor. A new boss is expected to be appointed during the second half of 2018.

It’s perhaps fair to say that BT has been under somewhat of a microscope for the past few years and they’ve not exactly had the best run of things, which has resulted in a continuing downward trend for their share value and that’s not made investors happy. At its peak in November 2015 you could still grab BT shares for around 500 and today it’s closer to 200. The reasons for all this are many and varied.

During Patterson’s tenure the company has suffered as Ofcom’s Strategic Review further weakened their position in the market, not least through the greater separation and independence of their network access division (Openreach). This has also given rivals more access to their national UK telecoms network and in the near future Ofcom are expected to have another bash at forcing them to offer Dark Fibre.

On top of that they’ve had to deal with the fallout from an Italian accounting scandal, job cuts, a huge fine and repayment for delayed Ethernet installs, pressure from the government and rival UK ISPs to deliver more FTTP broadband, uncertainty over Brexit, a failure to get their voluntary 10Mbps USO proposal passed, more pension troubles and the costs involved with EE’s merger etc.
Title: Re: BT Group CEO Gavin Patterson is to Step Down Later in 2018
Post by: Black Sheep on June 08, 2018, 12:57:38 PM
My personal opinion, is that he should have offered his resignation after the Italian debacle and the manipulation of figures with regard to fibre.

None of it his fault, but both uncovered on his watch .... alas that and other stuff, saw the markets lose confidence in the business and so I personally see this as a long over-due move.
Title: Re: BT Group CEO Gavin Patterson is to Step Down Later in 2018
Post by: KIAB on June 10, 2018, 05:17:43 PM
My personal opinion, is that he should have offered his resignation after the Italian debacle and the manipulation of figures with regard to fibre.

None of it his fault, but both uncovered on his watch .... alas that and other stuff, saw the markets lose confidence in the business and so I personally see this as a long over-due move.


 :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

And what he also wasted on football sport tv rights would have laid a lot of fibre for the UK. :rant: :rant:
Title: Re: BT Group CEO Gavin Patterson is to Step Down Later in 2018
Post by: Weaver on June 10, 2018, 05:36:16 PM
What KIAB said regarding the football. Exactly why a split or better part re-nationalisation is needed. If they were to nationalise the Openreach part and give it over to a forum of ISPs then that would be one option. Hardly going to happen in this universe, especially not in a Tory one.
Title: Re: BT Group CEO Gavin Patterson is to Step Down Later in 2018
Post by: Chrysalis on June 10, 2018, 10:43:45 PM
The share price plunge is kinda shocking, I feel the move into expensive sports rights is a prime factor, it hasnt worked.

Even sky the dominant player are struggling to make it work, they have been having to increase the price of their base TV packages to subsidise the sports packages.  BT had 2000 new broadband subscribers in the last quarter "two thousand", 700 a month for someone like BT seems extremely low.
Title: Re: BT Group CEO Gavin Patterson is to Step Down Later in 2018
Post by: Weaver on June 11, 2018, 02:44:20 AM
The share price is all the investors care about. No excuses matter.

And then we have national infrastructure at the whims of who knows what, it is too important to be just left to be random - I don’t have the words. Would be a cheaper time for the government to buy a controlling interest.