BT Group has appointed Worldpay's Philip Jansen as CEO, who will be taking over at the British telecoms operator early next year.

Jansen will join the telco as an Executive Director on 1 January 2019, once he steps down from his role at the global payments services group Worldpay at the end of the year. He will then take over from outgoing BT chief exec Gavin Patterson following a handover period on 1 February.

Jansen has been Chief Executive Worldpay group since 2013, leading it through its flotation in 2015, until its combination with Vantiv in 2018. He has previously been CEO and then Chairman of Brakes Group and has held a variety of senior roles in Sodexo Group, latterly as Chief Operating Officer and CEO, Europe, South Africa and India. He was also Managing Director of Telewest Communications PLC’s Consumer Division, having started his career with Procter and Gamble.

On top of other benefits and bonuses, Jansen will be paid a basic salary of £1.1 million a year, which will be fixed at this level for five years.

Jan du Plessis, Chairman of BT Group said: “The Board is delighted to have appointed Philip as our new Chief Executive. He is a proven leader with outstanding experience in managing large complex businesses. Philip’s strong leadership has inspired his teams, successfully transformed businesses across multiple industries and created significant value for shareholders. His most recent success at Worldpay, a technology-led business, means he is well suited to build on the solid foundations that are in place at BT. I look forward to working with him to position BT at the heart of the UK’s digital economy.”

Patterson is leaving following pressure from BT investors and shareholders after BT's share price hit a six-year low and job cuts of 13,000. More convergence, high-speed fixed and mobile and cloud were part of company strategy.

The company also announced the appointment of former O2 UK CEO Matthew Key to the BT Board as a non-executive director with immediate effect.

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