Sir Brendan Barber, former General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress and current chair of Acas, and Edward Astle, a former Board member of National Grid, attended the inaugural meeting of the Openreach Board on 31 January 2017. The Board was chaired by Mike McTighe, who was appointed independent Chairman of Openreach in December 2016. A fourth independent non-executive is due to be announced imminently with a specific focus on customer service.
Edward Astle has served on the Boards, and run substantial divisions, of Cable and Wireless (1989 to 1997), BICC (1997 to 1999) and National Grid (2001 to 2008). He was Pro Rector Enterprise at Imperial College London from 2008 to 2013 and has been an independent member of Equality of Access Board since 2013, so he brings a detailed understanding of the industry, and particularly the regulatory and compliance obligations being adopted by Openreach.
Establishing the new Board is central to governance reforms that Openreach has been implementing to become a more transparent and autonomous business. The reorganisation programme will create increased operational and management independence for Openreach.
Mike McTighe, Chairman of Openreach, said: “Openreach’s network and connectivity underpins Britain’s digital economy and we know that our customers have very high expectations of us.
“I understand that customers sometimes feel let down by Openreach because we haven’t always delivered the service they expect or that we hope to provide. We have made a lot of progress since Clive Selley joined as CEO a year ago - for example on halving the number of missed appointments, making our fibre network available to millions more people and accelerating our plan to introduce a new generation of ultrafast technology. But we need to do more to re-build trust and credibility. This will be the Board’s focus and we are currently in consultation with BT Group about agreeing the plan to deliver better service, broader coverage and faster speeds for consumers and businesses across the country.
“We are determined to meet our customers’ expectations and to strengthen the autonomy, governance and transparency of Openreach to facilitate the delivery of better outcomes for everyone who has a stake in our business.”
The Board will be responsible for setting Openreach’s strategy and overseeing its performance, making sure it treats all customers equally whilst investing in better service, broader coverage and faster broadband speeds for the entire UK. It will have an independent majority whose appointments have been discussed with Ofcom.
Clive Selley, Openreach Chief Executive; Clare Sadlier, Openreach Chief Finance Officer; and Simon Lowth, BT Group Finance Director will also join the Openreach Board. Clive will report to the Openreach Chairman, with accountability to the BT Chief Executive on issues relating to BT’s responsibilities as a publicly listed company.