BT replaces Openreach boss in latest management shake-up
The head of BT’s infrastructure arm, Openreach, is to step down after nearly a decade, having almost completed a £12bn rollout of full fibre broadband to 25m homes.Clive Selley, who was tasked by the former BT chief Philip Jansen to “build like fury” to address the UK’s status as global laggard in the introduction of high-speed broadband, will become the boss of BT’s international division.Selley is being replaced by his deputy, Katie Milligan, who will decide on whether to further expand the fibre network to 30m homes by 2030.The change in management 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 may at some point look at selling a stake in, or all of, Openreach.“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.
”Openreach has come under pressure in recent years from dozens of smaller broadband providers – “alt nets” such as CityFibre – and has forecast 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,In November, Selley told Ofcom that Openreach could scrap the final phase if the telecoms regulator went ahead with the draft proposal of the telecoms access review, which covers the period until 2030,Openreach is unhappy with what it sees as unfair restrictions, such as pricing caps on what it can charge broadband companies such as Sky and TalkTalk to use its network, designed to curb its dominant position and encourage competition,“The key thing for me is I would love to just finish the job,” said Milligan.
“That is what Openreach has been about: can we build as far and wide as possible.That is not going to change.But we want to make sure we can get the right conditions to finish the job.There is not much [of the UK] that we won’t be able to get to.We want to get to as much as possible with fixed broadband.
”Overall, the UK’s global ranking for fixed broadband speed was 44th last year, the same as 2024, according to Ookla’s popular speed test database for benchmarking internet connections around the world,Ofcom reported late last year that full fibre broadband coverage was available to 78% of households, about 23,7m homes,Gigabit broadband speed coverage, which includes cable broadband offered by Virgin Media O2, has reached 87%,However, actual take-up of full fibre by consumers is considerably lower, with only 42% of homes that could take it opting to upgrade, according to Ofcom.
Selley is replacing Bas Burger, who is leaving BT in April after 18 years, including nine years on its executive committee.
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Logitech’s latest productivity power-house updates one of the greatest mice of all time with smoother materials, a repair-friendly design and a haptic motor for phone-like vibrations on your desktop.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.The MX Master 4 is the latest evolution in a line of pioneering mice that dates back more than 20 years and has long been the mouse to beat for everything but hardcore PC gaming
‘It felt hypocritical’: child internet safety campaign accused of censoring teenagers’ speeches
An internet safety campaign backed by US tech companies has been accused of censoring two teenagers they invited to speak out about the biggest issues facing children online.Childnet, a UK charity part-funded by companies including Snap, Roblox and Meta, edited out warnings from Lewis Swire and Saamya Ghai that social media addiction was an “imminent threat to our future” and obsessive scrolling was making people “sick”, according to a record of edits seen by the Guardian.Swire, then 17, from Edinburgh, and Ghai, then 14, from Buckinghamshire, had been asked to speak at an event to mark Safer Internet Day in 2024 in London in front of representatives from government, charities and tech companies.The tech-backed charity also edited out references to children feeling unable to stop using TikTok and Snap, social media exacerbating a “devastating epidemic” of isolation, and a passage questioning why people would want to spend years of their lives “scrolling TikTok and binge-watching Netflix”, the edits show.The 2026 iteration of the Childnet-run event takes place on Tuesday with more than 2,800 schools and colleges listed as supporters
‘I fell into it’: ex-criminal hackers urge Manchester pupils to use web skills for good
Cybercriminals, the shadowy online figures often depicted in Hollywood movies as hooded villains capable of wiping millions of pounds off the value of businesses at a keystroke, are not usually known for their candour.But in a sixth-form college in Manchester this week, two former hackers gave the young people gathered an honest appraisal of what living a life of internet crime really looks like.The teenagers in the room are listening intently, but the day-to-day internecine disputes they hear about is not the stuff of screenplays.“It’s just people getting into these online dramas and they’re swatting and doxing each other and getting people to throw bricks through their windows,” one of the hackers says.If the language sounds unfamiliar, it should – “swatting” and “doxing” involve people outing each other online by posting their genuine identities – but their message is clear: though cybercrime may seem alluring, the reality is anything but
Battle of the chatbots: Anthropic and OpenAI go head-to-head over ads in their AI products
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Why has Elon Musk merged his rocket company with his AI startup?
The acquisition of xAI by SpaceX is a typical Elon Musk deal: big numbers backed by big ambition.As well as extending “the light of consciousness to the stars”, as Musk described it, the transaction creates a business worth $1.25tn (£920bn) by combining Musk’s rocket company with his artificial intelligence startup. It values SpaceX at $1tn and xAI at $250bn, with a stock market flotation expected in June to time with Musk’s birthday and a planetary alignment.However, there are questions over the deal, such as whether it is good for SpaceX’s non-Musk shareholders and whether the technological premise behind it can succeed
Victims urge tougher action on deepfake abuse as new law comes into force
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