BT’s local access network division – since February 2014, he has overseen BT’s deployment of superfast fibre broadband, extending its footprint from 18 million premises when he joined to more than 24 million premises now. In recent months it’s been at the centre of an investigation by communications regulator Ofcom, which is looking into whether the company should be spun-off from BT. No firm date beyond the “Spring 2016” window has been confirmed for his departure and a successor has yet to be named.
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In a statement explaining its stance, Sky argued that as BT has sole control over Openreach its decisions about investment in national infrastructure “reflect the interests of BT rather than the whole industry and the businesses and consumers that use its service”. Garner has said it would be a big mistake to split Openreach from BT and that he has been working to improve service.
He replaces Mr Beale, who has held the role of Nationwide chief executive since 2007 years and been with the building society for 30 years.
“In my view, it is BT’s investment that has helped the United Kingdom to become one of the strongest digital economies in the world and I am proud to have contributed”, Garner said. He rose through the ranks after joining HSBC in 2004 and won recognition for increasing HSBC’s United Kingdom market share, particularly of mortgages, when other banks were weakened.
Mr Garner also weighed in on the debate surrounding the future of Openreach by saying that the division was “poised to take the United Kingdom from a superfast to an ultrafast nation” and that he was “confident it can achieve this as part of the BT family”.
Garner, who announced his intention to leave BT Outreach, said the opportunity to join “one of Britain’s most important financial institutions” was too good to turn down.
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Mr Garner remarked on Nationwide’s “remarkable heritage” and the fact that as a mutual it is owned by its customers means that it is uniquely placed to lead and succeed in the next chapter of retail financial services in the UK.
