Telecom New Zealand has appointed Dr Paul Reynolds as its chief executive officer, effective from late September 2007.
Paul is currently CEO of BT Wholesale, the wholesale business of UK-based Telecommunications and IT company BT Group.
Since joining BT in 1983, he has worked in senior leadership roles in sales and marketing, strategy, information systems, broadband, and guided BT's wholesale business through operational separation, when Openreach was created. He has served on BT's board of directors since 2001.
Paul will succeed Theresa Gattung, who leaves Telecom on Friday after 12 years at the company, the past eight as the company's CEO.
Simon Moutter has been appointed as acting CEO until Paul Reynolds formally takes up his role.
"We think it best to look at this in three parts "“ his legacy to BT, why he is leaving, and his inheritance at TNZ," Mike Cansfield, principal analyst at Ovum said.
"Looking at BT his legacy, we have been very impressed by the way Paul led BTW through both the recession and the renaissance of wholesale as a function in the industry, and how he led the modernisation of the business in BT from a backwater to a leading innovation centre. Both achievements are considerable, and his departure is a big loss to BT.
"So why is he leaving? There will be speculation that his departure is due to pique because the network and 21CN (something he has always championed) has been taken out of Wholesale and put in the new Transformation unit under Andy Green. Having known Paul for almost 20 years, I doubt this. I expect he took the decision because now Wholesale is on a new footing, and 21CN is well into implementation stage, so now was the right time to let go. Given the fulsome tributes made to Paul by CEO Ben Verwaayen and chairman Sir Christopher Bland, this implies amicable rather than acrimonious parting of the ways, so we suspect this is the real reason.
"Looking at TNZ, his inheritance faces plenty of big challenges "“ a slow rollout of broadband (sounds familiar!), ongoing regulatory issues and fierce competition from Vodafone to name but three. Add on to this the topological challenges of both islands and a small but dispersed population, and the complexities are magnified even more. Leading TNZ will be no holiday. But in addition to network/wholesale, Paul also brings operational experience (from his spell in his native Scotland "“ a country with similar challenges to New Zealand) and product management skills to TNZ.
"All in all, this makes him eminently suitable for his new job. His appointment is a good fit for both parties," Cansfield finished.
