THE ROW THAT TOPPLED TOP MOBILE BOSS
Senior exec slams former Everything Everywhere chief
EVERYTHING Everywhere, Britain’s biggest network operator, “lost a year” under the leadership of its former boss Tom Alexander, according to an extraordinary outburst by a top executive.
Benoit Scheen, France Telecom’s European boss and a member of the Everything Everywhere board, blamed Alexander for failing to make the severe cuts in management needed in the wake of the merger between France Telecom’s Orange and T-Mobile in the UK.
He said: “We gave him a chance and a second chance and a third and fourth chance, and eventually you have to make a decision based on the interests of the company.”
Scheen’s criticisms are the first public indication that Everything Everywhere’s first year was marred by deep internal divisions.
Alexander – one of Britain’s leading telecoms executives – and Everything Everywhere have always maintained his departure was purely for “personal reasons”.
The remarks came as a shock to Alexander’s allies, who refused to comment because there is understood to be a legal agreement preventing either party from discussing the circumstances surrounding his departure.
Scheen went on: “Tom Alexander was a nice guy but he wasn’t an operations man. When you’re merging two different boards, and you end up with a board of 24, you have to make sacrifices.
“A year down the line we had a board with 24 people on it and no decisions had been made.”
Scheen also said he did not believe Alexander was hands-on enough to oversee the new company.
Alexander resigned from Everything Everywhere last July, a year after the merger of Orange and T-Mobile created Britain’s largest network operator with 28m customers.
Deutsche Telekom – T-Mobile UK’s parent – and France Telecom each have a 50 per cent stake in Everything Everywhere, which is now run by Olaf Swantee.
Alexander, who owns a fleet of sports cars, secured more than £20m from the flotation in 2004 of Virgin Mobile, the mobile phone business he founded. His exit from Everything Everywhere was followed by the departure of a string of top level staff, including former T-Mobile boss and Everything Everywhere chief financial officer Richard Moat.
Scheen became France Telecom’s executive vice president of Europe last September. Previously he was chief executive of Mobistar in Belgium, which is majority-owned by France Telecom.
The Belgian national made the outspoken remarks at a dinner earlier this week with journalists and analysts at Mobile World Congress, the industry’s trade fair in Barcelona.
When City A.M. asked him for further comment the following day, he said he was not in a position to speak about Alexander as he was not in his current role at the time. He added the thrust of his comments could have been misconstrued because English is not his first language.
Alexander could not be reached for comment. France Telecom Group said in a statement: “France Telecom wishes to reiterate its appreciation for the work Tom Alexander undertook as CEO of Everything Everywhere in establishing it as the UK’s largest mobile communications company. Tom successfully led the company during its first 18 months bringing together both the Orange and T-Mobile businesses. Having achieved this he stood back for personal reasons and on amicable terms and he and his contribution to Everything Everywhere’s success continue to be held in high regard by the company’s shareholders.”