Broadband ISP Execs Join BT CEO in Self Isolation for COVID-19

The bosses of several other UK broadband ISPs and organisations, including Gigaclear, Cityfibre and Openreach among others, have now gone into self-isolation at home for at least 7 days after meeting the CEO of BT Group, Philip Jansen, last week. Initially it was thought that this only effected the chiefs of major mobile operators.

BT’s CEO, Philip Jansen, sadly tested positive for COVID-19 (Coronavirus) on Thursday afternoon (here) and at the time it was widely reported that he had recently met with the UK Culture Secretary (Oliver Dowden MP), including the leaders of O2, Vodafone and Three UK. According to recent research, symptoms of the virus could appear as soon as 3 days after exposure to as long as 13 days later (the virus can still be spread before symptoms show).

Unfortunately we’ve since learnt that BT’s CEO had also held another round table meeting prior to the one with mobile chiefs, which sources told ISPreview.co.uk included Matt Warman MP (UK Digital Minister) and the bosses of several major broadband providers including Gigaclear, Cityfibre, Openreach, Hyperoptic, KCOM and Virgin Media. Ofcom’s new CEO, Dame Melanie Dawes, is also alleged to have been in attendance.

At the time of writing we’ve been able to confirm that the meeting did take place and that the bosses of Cityfibre (Greg Mesch), Gigaclear (Gareth Williams) and Openreach (Clive Selley) are all following the guidance by self-isolating at home as a precautionary measure. Due to the weekend we have not yet been able to get a response from the others, but we assume that they, like the mobile chiefs, are being sensible and following the same advice from Public Health England (PHE).

So far none of those who attended either of the meetings have fallen ill, although it’s unclear whether they’ve all been tested. All intend to be back at work once their isolation period has ended. We wish all of those who may contract the virus the best for a hopefully speedy recovery. Sadly we all have to do things differently for awhile and there’s no escaping the significant disruption that will inevitably cause.