LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's BT (L:BT) has appointed Jan du Plessis, chairman of miner Rio Tinto (AX:RIO), as its next chairman, taking over from Mike Rake who has led the telecoms group for 10 years.
BT said on Thursday that du Plessis would join its board as a non-executive director on June 1, and become chairman on Nov. 1.
Britain's biggest telecoms group has been transformed in recent years by re-entering the mobile market with the acquisition of leading operator EE and setting up a TV service backed by spending billions on sport rights.
But it has clashed with the regulator over its Openreach networks business - an argument still not resolved - and an accounting scandal in Italy as well as a slowdown in its corporate business led to a profit warning in January.
Du Plessis said it was an important time for BT, and he looked forward to working with Chief Executive Gavin Patterson "to help BT continue to support Britain’s digital future".
He led Rio Tinto through a volatile period, as it scrambled to pay down $39 billion in debt from its Alcan takeover, scrapped a controversial tie-up with China's Chinalco, sacked a chief executive after the company made over-priced acquisitions and fended off a bid from Glencore (L:GLEN).
Rio said the firm had begun planning for a new chairman in June 2016 following the announcement that Jean-Sebastien Jacques would take over as CEO from Sam Walsh who retired last year.
"When we announced the appointment of J-S as chief executive a year ago, I committed to the board to serve as chairman for another two years, as part of a planned leadership transition," du Plessis said.