BT hires a Spanish woman as finance director at a Telefónica subsidiary.

Patricia Cobian will succeed Simon Lowth next summer and will have to address the problem of high debt while the British operator continues its network rollout. VMO2 has begun the process of finding a replacement.

BT, the British telecommunications operator, has announced that it will appoint Spanish Patricia Cobian (50 years old) as its new financial director, a position in which she will replace Simon Lowth (64 years old), who is about to retire after nine years in that position.

The British company has signed her to VMO2, Telefónica's subsidiary in the United Kingdom, where the Spanish group holds a 50% stake (the other 50% is held by the American company Liberty).

Cobian must spend a year on leave due to non-compete, as stipulated in his contract, so he won't take up his new role until the summer of 2026. BT will announce the specific date in due course. VMO2's departure is effective immediately.

For its part, VMO2 will now begin its own process to recruit its next CFO, a position now being filled on an interim basis by Mark Hardman, director of financial operations, and Nick Taylor, director of capital allocation.

Cobian's challenges in its future role include controlling debt, taking into account its capital needs for fiber deployment and the pension plan, which has a £3.7 billion (€4.26 billion) deficit.

Cobian has spent most of her professional career at Telefónica, which she joined in 2006. She has been CFO of VMO2 since June 2021, when the joint venture between Telefónica and Liberty was created.

BT Chief Executive Allison Kirkby said: "His leadership and deep industry knowledge and experience will be invaluable as we continue the historic upgrade of the UK's digital infrastructure and accelerate BT's modernization."

BT today reported its first-quarter results. Between April and June, its revenue fell 3% to £4.879 billion, while its EBITDA fell 1% to £2.05 billion.