BT appoints chief broadband officer

NEWS BT today announced the appointment of Alison Ritchie as its first chief broadband officer. Ritchie - currently the CEO of BT's ISP, BTopenworld - will direct BT's policy on broadband developments across the whole of the BT Group. BT believes that having a member of the top management team solely focused on broadband is a "positive step that will ensure successful delivery of all broadband activities". Its competitors may be curious to know how she can continue to head up BTopenworld while talking to other parts of the BT Group - in particular BTwholesale - about broadband without using the knowledge she gleans to give BTopenworld an unfair advantage over other ISPs. BT's statement about this reads: "Alison will step aside from the day to day running of BTopenworld for regulatory reasons. Responsibility for managing that business will be handed over to John Butler, currently director of new services and strategy, supported by senior vice president, Duncan Ingram." Ritchie said in a statement: "I am thrilled to be taking on this new role. To me there is nothing more exciting than broadband. I am looking forward to the challenge of uniting efforts across the whole group to make our offer to customers even better."