The head of BT’s infrastructure arm Openreach is to step down after almost a decade, having almost completed a £12bn rollout of full fibre broadband to 25m homes.

Clive Selley, who was tasked by former BT chief Philip Jansen to “build like fury” to address the UK’s status as global laggard in the rollout of high-speed broadband, will become the boss of BT’s international division.

The management change is the latest in a shake-up by Allison Kirkby, BT’s first female boss , who has changed 10 of the 11 members of the telecoms group’s executive committee since she took over in February 2024.

After joining in 2016, Selley was tasked with upgrading the ageing Openreach network, which provides broadband across the UK, to full fibre.

The company is on track to pass its target of making full fibre broadband available to 25m homes by the end of this year.

There has long been speculation that BT might at some point look to sell a stake in, or all of, Openreach at some point.

“Openreach is a critical national asset – the digital backbone of the UK – and a key driver of BT Group’s long‑term value,” said Kirkby. “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.”

In recent years Openreach has come under pressure from dozens of smaller broadband providers – “alt nets” such as CityFibre – and has forecast that it will lose 850,000 customers in the year to the end of March.

Openreach lost more than 800,000 customers in its last financial year.

Selley is being replaced by his deputy Katie Milligan, who will have to make the decision as to whether to further expand the fibre network to 30m homes by the end of the decade.

He is replacing Bas Burger, who is leaving BT in April after 18 years, including nine years on its executive committee.