Aardvark Daily

Please visit the sponsor!

The queen is dead, long live the king?

As we all know by now, Kiwi Theresa Gattung is to be replaced by Scotsman Paul Reynolds as the CEO of Telecom.

But just what does this mean to Telecom, its customers and its competitors?

Of course it's way too early to tell what plans Mr Reynolds has lined up for our largest and virtual monopoly telco but some interesting glimpses of a possible future have already been seen.

In an interview broadcast yesterday, Reynolds went to great lengths to emphasize that he was intent on fulfilling any and all commitments given to government in respect to the company's future direction. This is clearly a totally different perspective to the previous management's "delay, deny, distract" policy.

Of course Reynolds will already be aware of the importance of not pissing the government off -- in his former job it could have meant prosecution.

As a key wheel in British Telecom's move into a competitive marketplace he is familiar with the challenges and opportunities that now face Telecom and appears confident that he'll be able to steer the HMS Telecom out from its recent troubled waters.

The media is painting him as a nice guy with strong family values and a key awareness of the importance of striking a work-life balance.

I suspect however, that nobody would have gotten this job without convincing Telecom's board that they were capable of being very focused on bottom-line objectives. Indeed, not to choose someone with the necessary degree of ruthlessness would have been commercial suicide for Telecom.

Please visit the sponsor!

He has also been quick to point out how, under his leadership, the UK now has ubiquitous broadband which is more "available" than in most other countries.

However, those who have been in the industry for any length of time will recall that Reynolds' talk and his walk don't quite line up.

Back in 2000, while he was on the job, BT were roundly accused of the very same tactics that Telecom have recently been sanctioned for -- namely dragging the chain on broadband. Indeed, there are huge parallels between Telecom's current predicament and Reynolds stewardship of BT Wholesale in 2000

Could it be therefore, that the Telecom board see Reynolds as someone who's proven he can take over from Theresa with minimal disruption in philosophy or mantra?

Could it be a case of "same old same old" or, even worse "better the devil you know than the one you don't?"

Let's hope that Reynolds has learned enough from his years at BT and the massive changes that were forced upon them to avoid repeating those mistakes.

On the bright side though, perhaps we'll see Telecom now move more quickly towards establishing a totally IP-based network infrastructure something along the lines of BT's 21st Century Network plan.

I'll be keeping an open mind in respect to Reynolds but watching closely to see if he represents a breath of fresh air that might bring benefits to the nation as a whole, or whether he's just another ruthless schemer who perpetuates Telecom's already seedy record for delay and deception and denial.

One thing is certain though, they could hardly have found anyone with better qualification or experience to lead Telecom through the challenges it faces in the short-term future.

What's your take?

Does King Paul look better or worse than Queen Theresa?

Will we see an improvement in Telecom's attitude towards being a responsible corporate citizen?

Have your say on this...

PERMALINK to this column

Oh, and don't forget today's sci/tech news headlines

Rank This Aardvark Page

Change Font