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In a significant development, national broadband operator Openreach (BT) has this morning announced that they’re replacing long-serving CEO, Clive Selley, with current Deputy CEO Katie Milligan from 1st April 2026. Clive will then will become CEO of BT International, where he succeeds Bas Burger who has decided to leave BT after 18 years of service on the same date.
Clive was originally appointed to the role of CEO at the start of 2016 and has thus overseen the network operator’s transition into a more independent and legally separate business from the BT Group, which includes Ofcom’s significant 2016 Strategic Review of Digital Communications (full summary), and several Market Reviews thereafter. Not to mention the roll-out of Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) lines, which now covers over 22 million premises.
Needless to say, Clive has overseen some of the biggest changes in the United Kingdom’s broadband landscape in recent memory. Ofcom’s imminent Telecoms Access Review 2026 (TAR), which is due to be published next month but is admittedly not expected to be quite as significant as prior reviews (i.e. the 2021 market review set core regulation for the next decade), is thus perhaps not a bad time for another change of boss to occur.
As for Katie Milligan, she first joined Openreach back in 2009, following a move from BT Group, where she originally started on their graduate programme in 2004. She has held various leadership roles, including as the company’s Commercial Director, and was appointed Chief Commercial Officer in 2023, before becoming Deputy Chief Executive Officer in 2025. She’s also Chair of the network operator’s Scotland Board.
Allison Kirkby, BT Group CEO, said:
“Openreach is a critical national asset – the digital backbone of the UK – and a key driver of BT Group’s long-term value. Its talented team, disciplined execution and customer focus continues to strengthen our position as the UK’s most trusted connector. Katie has helped shape that success. Her deep industry experience, strong people leadership and sharp operational instincts make her the right leader to take Openreach forward.
Clive’s contribution at the helm of Openreach has been exceptional. His leadership – particularly the scale, pace and quality of the full fibre broadband build, has set new standards for our industry. We are deeply grateful for the commitment, expertise and integrity he has brought to the role. Clive’s lasting legacy is a world-class digital infrastructure that will serve the UK for generations to come.
Clive is also the best person to lead BT International forward as a next generation, global telco platform business. No one has more experience building complex modern day infrastructure and supporting customers at scale in their digital transition. I’m delighted he’s staying within BT Group and look forward to working together with him in his new role.
I’d like to thank Bas for all that he’s done for us over the past 18 years, including leading Global, BT Business and, most recently, successfully carving out BT International as a standalone unit. He has laid the foundations and strategy for a more focussed, responsive platform business for our customers outside of the UK, ready to scale and grow with the help of next generation technologies.
Together these changes strengthen BT Group’s leadership for the next chapter – giving Openreach continued commercial and customer momentum in the UK, and speeding up the transformation of BT International.”
Katie seems like a natural pick for the network operator and will ensure some continuity after Clive’s departure. She is also said to have been instrumental in Openreach’s return to revenue and EBITDA growth and helped reshape the company’s commercial strategy through major product and pricing innovations (e.g. the Equinox FTTP discount scheme).
At the same time, Katie will face a challenge in trying to ensure that Openreach remains competitive and retains as much market share as possible, which is difficult in a market where many more fish now play at infrastructure level than before (Openreach lost another 210,000 broadband lines to rivals in the last quarter, but that was down from 242k in the prior quarter). Any future strategy around this will depend a lot on how much flexibility Ofcom’s forthcoming market review allows the incumbent.