“While BT is a very demanding business, with multiple stakeholders, we do have significant opportunities ahead of us.”

Mr Patterson’s departure will end a near-five year stint as chief executive, having been at BT for a total of 14 years. The changeover comes just a month after BT announced plans to axe around 13,000 jobs and exit its BT headquarters in central London as part of a revamped cost-cutting drive meant to help save around £1.5 billion. Read more: Without a dividend cut, the new BT chair should not hang up on Patterson

The board is fully supportive of the strategy recently set out by Gavin and his team. “The broader reaction to our recent results announcement has though demonstrated to Gavin and me that there is a need for a change of leadership to deliver this strategy.”

He added: “To that end, a number of concrete initiatives have already been launched and Gavin’s commitment to continue to lead the business during this transition phase will provide invaluable continuity. A search for Mr Patterson’s successor had started, the company said, and it expected to have a successor in place during the second half of the year.
Gavin Patterson, the chief executive of BT Group, announces that he intends to step down later this year.