Network provider Openreach, which as part of their deal with Ofcom (legal separation from BT) is required to maintain an independent governance structure, has today announced the appointment of Natalie Ceeney as a non-executive member to its Board. Natalie replaces Liz Benison, who will step down on 30th April 2022.
Natalie Ceeney is said to be an experienced non-executive, who also serves on the Board of Anglian Water Services LTD, Ford Credit Europe and LV=. She started her career at McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting partnership – and has since then spent her subsequent executive career as a CEO with HM Court and Tribunal Service, the Financial Ombudsman Service, and the National Archives.
She will be joining the Board as an independent Director on 1st May 2022.
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The Current Board Members:
➤ Mike McTighe, Openreach Chairman
➤ Edward Astle
➤ Andrew Barron
➤ Liz Benison, to be replaced by Natalie Ceeney
➤ Clive Selley, Openreach Chief Executive
➤ Matt Davies, Openreach Chief Finance Officer
➤ Simon Lowth, BT Group Finance Director
Mike McTighe, Chair of Openreach, said:
“Liz has played an important part in Openreach’s development into the company it is today, and she has been a passionate advocate on the Board for customer focus and operational robustness. She’s stepping down to focus more on her full-time CEO role at ISS UK and Ireland. I’m sorry to see her go but I’d like to thank her for her invaluable contributions in the early years of the Openreach Board and wish her good luck in her new role.
I’m delighted to welcome Natalie to the Board at this crucial time – as we continue to build our full fibre network across the nation. Natalie is a true consumer champion and her experience in strategy and transformation will serve the Board well as we look ahead to the next stage of our journey.”
End.
Is this the board that decide to overbuild Openreach network only where AltNet’s are going?
By definition, you can only overbuild where there is another network.
But Openreach is also building in many, many areas where there is no Altnet.
If you’re building to 25m homes, how exactly do you avoid ‘overbuild’?
Are you suggesting a carve up where Openreach deliberately avoids alt nets?
So you can say for absolute certainty there is no sabotage of AltNet rollouts?
Where Openreach declare they will NOT touch an area, NOR will VMO2, so AltNet’s begin…
Only to find Openreach and VM suddenly start cutting up the same tarmac in spite?
While other areas have nothing but ADSL or VDSL? Is this not what is happening at all here?
I think it is happening. Some areas have 3-4 choices and others have 0-1
as the incumbent wont openreach overbuild everyone anyway?
Also isn’t overbuild the exact thing ofcom want when they go on about preventing providers having a monopoly or does that only apply to openreach?
Given the scale of investment by OR in commercial builds, plus their £15B commitment for “Rural Areas” and finally bulked up with funding from BDUK’s £5B Gigabit pot I would imagine that by default OR will end up building/overbuilding the vast bulk of the country, certainly 95-98% plus. The only question is what happens to the last few properties? I guess that the current procurements will show where they are? I suspect that BDUK wont want to fund the very very expensive last bits so rather than OR building out there they will fund Starlink, OneWeb etc. Which for most really deep rural dwellers is probably perfectly acceptable. Lets not get too hung up on the gigabit debate, 100Mbs plus will seem like heaven compared to what they currently get, excluding B4RNland of course!
So do you work for an altnet or are you upset because there’s overbuild while you haven’t been covered yet, Paul?
Of course Openreach rock up when altnets start to build – it fundamentally changes the business case. This isn’t sabotage it’s competition. Most of the altnet builds expect an Openreach response.
If you’ve an issue with this speak with the government. Were they to force exclusivity you can write your thoughts on the mass of posts here with complaints from people with access to only one FTTP provider while down the road they’ve the Openreach/CityFibre portfolio of ISPs available.
“Where Openreach declare they will NOT touch an area, NOR will VMO2, so AltNet’s begin…”
Where have they said this Paul. Don’t worry, I’ll wait for an answer.
I wasn’t aware that Openreach or VM ever “declare they will NOT touch an area” unless it’s part of an OMR.
Good avoiding the questions though.
In Sandhurst, Berkshire, Zoom have made a big mess, cutting up roads and pavement to lay fibre.
Just before this, Trooli laid fibre in the Openreach ducts back to the cab.
In my opinion, a complete waste of time and money from Zoom.
To be fair it is their money to spend as they see fit. The pavement scars will fade over time. Could run a community campaign to raise money to resurface them full width.
Open reach or out of reach as I call them is as independent of BT as my arm is from the rest of my body.
Yes, you are right
Openreach has not started in my Parent’s area yet in Edgware, but places around
like Kenton have Openreach
Community Fibre has started their rollout using Openreach’s assets though