The former CEO of Vodafone Group has resurfaced as chair of fibre infrastructure firm
EXA Infrastructure describes itself as “the largest dedicated digital infrastructure platform connecting Europe and North America”. It owns 125,000km of fibre network across 34 countries. It also owns submarine cable systems, including three that cross the Atlantic cables – see below.
EXA was founded on GTT’s assets, which were acquired in 2021 by I Squared Capital, and has grown fast through acquisition.
Read (pictured while at Vodafone) resigned from his role at Vodafone after four years at the helm during which time its share price dropped by almost half and shareholders were agitating for more rationalisation of the sprawling group, growth and efficiencies.
Read said, “It is a privilege to be appointed Chair of EXA Infrastructure, particularly at a pivotal time for the telecoms industry where we are seeing significant investment in digital infrastructure and market growth.”
These certainly are interesting times in telecoms, and not always the easiest of times to navigate for infrastructure firms that grew fast due to acquisition in times of cheap money and low interest rates.
EXA’s management reckons Read will help “strategic network expansion plans, commercial growth and ongoing operational excellence efforts”.
Last week EXA Infrastructure acquired Croatian telco Unitel, expanding it Balkan coverage. Unitel owns a 515km backbone network that spans the country and crosses into Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.