Veteran Virgin Media staffer Robert Dunn is being tapped for a new role at parent Liberty Global that would see the company develop full fibre broadband in smaller UK towns and rural areas.
There are still significant gaps in broadband coverage outside Britain’s major conurbations.
According to an internal memo seen by the Financial Times, Mr Dunn would move to a new role at Liberty Global “looking at potential infrastructure investments in the UK”.
Contacted by Broadband TV News, Virgin confirmed that Mr Dunn would be leaving his CFO role, but declined to comment further.
The FT says Mr Dunn would join a new joint-venture company being established by investment bank LionTree to install new fibre lines outside the Virgin Media footprint.
Last month, Virgin announced plans to offer a gigabit internet service to almost 15 million UK homes. It comes amid political pressure from new prime minister Boris Johnson to improve the country’s broadband infrastructure.
Openreach, which supplies broadband infrastructure to BT and a number of independent operators, has also ramped up its plans, adding a further 36 locations to its plans.
Mr Dunn will depart after 19 years with Virgin and its predecessors. Bill Castell, his deputy and a former chief financial officer of Barclays’ corporate bank and Barclaycard in Europe will becoming acting CFO.