Openreach Appoints Lauren McGaughey as Northern Ireland Director

National UK broadband operator Openreach (BT) has announced that their current Acting Director for Northern Ireland, Lauren McGaughey, has formally been appointed to the role on a permanent basis. She replaces Garret Kavanagh in the role, who recently became their MD for Complex Engineering.

Lauren first joined Openreach in 2013 and, over the past year, has been leading the Northern Ireland business and helping to oversee the regional roll-out of Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband technology, which is now available to 92% of premises (estimated c.850,000) in Northern Ireland (up from 90% in May 2025).

Lauren McGaughey said: “Openreach’s investment and delivery has already secured Northern Ireland’s place as the most digitally connected region in the UK, and I’m excited to build on that momentum by connecting even more homes and businesses to faster, reliable broadband. We now have a unique competitive advantage – particularly for businesses – with opportunities to scale, attract investment and operate with the confidence of fast, dependable connectivity.”