Ofcom UK Bids Farewall to Long Time CEO Ed Richards

In a somewhat expected move the Chief Executive of national UK telecoms and media regulator Ofcom, Ed Richards, has announced that he is to stand down from his post at the end of December 2014. At present nobody has been lined up to replace him.

Richards first joined the Ofcom Board in March 2003, before being promoted to Chief Operating Officer (COO) in July 2005 and later becoming its Chief Executive (CEO) in October 2006.

Meanwhile the process to find a replacement, which is being led by Zygos Partnership, is only just getting started. Richards’s replacement will be a public appointment made by the Ofcom Board that involves “an independent assessor” and is subject to approval by the Government’s Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.

Ed Richards said:

“It has been a privilege to lead Ofcom during such an exciting and dynamic period in the evolution of the UK’s communications sector. It is never easy leaving a job that you enjoy greatly but I have always felt that once I had completed eight years as Chief Executive this would be the right time to move on.”

Patricia Hodgson, Ofcom Chairman, said:

“Ed has been an outstanding Chief Executive. Under his leadership, Ofcom has helped to deliver superfast broadband, 4G, lower prices, innovation, competition, and sustainable public service broadcasting in the UK. He leaves an impressive legacy. On behalf of the Board I would like to thank him for his enormous contribution.”

During his tenure Richards has overseen many changes in the market, not least the partial breaking up of BT’s dominance over fixed line broadband and phone services, which helped to foster affordability and competition in the market from the likes of TalkTalk, Sky Broadband and many others. Ofcom hopes to find a replacement for Richards during early 2015.