BT Group CEO Philip Jansen has confirmed plans to leave his role in the next 12 months
After months of rumors, BT Group CEO Philip Jansen has confirmed plans to leave his role in the next 12 months. In March, U.K. newspaper The Mail on Sunday reported that BT chairman Adam Crozier said that the board already had a succession process in place for Jansen.
“All appropriate candidates are being considered… We expect to be able to update the market on progress over the course of the summer,” Crozier said at the time.
Jansen has held the role of CEO since February 2019, and over the past few years has navigated the company through a heightened focus on fiber and the establishment of a spin-off of its sports broadcaster into a joint venture with Warner Bros Discovery.
During his time at BT Group, the company also announced plans to cut up to 55,000 jobs — more than 40% of its workforce by 2030. Jansen told press that the company is looking become “leaner,” and shared that 10,000 of these jobs will likely be replaced by AI, particularly roles in customer service and network management. Once everything is digitized and AI has been adopted, he explained, the company would need a smaller workforce and to focus on reducing costs. Specifically, Jansen predicted that running the digital networks of the near future, will require 10,000 fewer network engineers, and advanced technologies like automation and AI, will replace another 10,000.
When it comes to Jansen’s successor, no one has been named yet; however, Bloomberg reported that Marc Allera, the company’s consumer chief, has been a top consideration in recent months.
