Operator signals new approach following decline in postpaid mobile and broadband bases
Liberty Global owned Telenet has signalled it is changing its senior leadership team to respond to what is now an increasingly competitive market in Belgium. The operator has announced the departure of long-serving corporate development chief Ann Caluwaerts with her role being split into “Legal & Regulatory” and “People & Corporate Communications” functions that will each have their own representative in the senior leadership team. Caluwaerts started at the Telenet group as a board member for Content & Public Affairs in 2011
A “Strategy/New Business/M&A” will also join the leadership team. From October 1, 2024, the role of general counsel and responsibility for “Legal & Regulatory” will be represented in the senior leadership team by Bart van Sprundel, who is already in charge of these disciplines today. A selection process will be initiated for the other two roles. Caluwaerts will continue in her current position until succession has been secured.
“Ann has made an enduring mark on the strategy and progress of our company over the past 13.5 years,” said Telenet CEO John Porter. “Her positive energy and leadership skills ensure that teams under her care produce particularly impressive results.”
“The Telenet group is awash with talent and very enthusiastic and committed employees,” said Caluwaerts (above). “I am confident that our colleagues are ready to move the company forward and grab the opportunities and tackle the challenges in a changing media and telecom landscape.”
“Over the past ten years I have had the privilege of helping to support and implement the strategic direction of the Telenet group. I am honored, therefore, to be able to continue being part of this as a member of the senior leadership team,” said Telenet general counsel Bart van Sprundel, who also thanked Caluwaerts for her mentoring role.
Change is a certainty
Caluwaerts’ departure follows other key executives. Patrick Vincent, EVP of customer interactions and BASE, left at the end of December 2022 after 18 years with the company. His role was divided between Benedikte Paulissen, who took on the role of chief customer operations officer, and Dieter Nieuwdorp, who became chief commercial officer Residential & SOHO.
Meanwhile, Telenet’s chief financial officer, Erik Van den Enden, departed the operator on 31 August 2024. Van den Enden, who joined Telenet in July 2018, was a big figure in several key initiatives, including the operator’s wholesale agreement with Orange, the sale of Telenet’s mobile antenna infrastructure to DigitalBridge and the creation of the infrastructure company Wyre.
In July, Proximus and Wyre, with Telenet and Fiberklaar, agreed to work together on faster, broader fibre deployment with less civic disruption. The intended collaboration would cover about 2.7 million homes across zones with intermediate to low population density.
Last week, Telenet and field engineering company Solutions30’s joint-venture Unit-T had its contract – which kicked-off in 2018 – renewed for a futher five years. Unit-T will manage the installation and repair of both fibre and hybrid-fiber-coaxial (HFC) connections for residential and business customers throughout Belgium. This includes customer connection services and essential support functions like logistics management, dispatch operations, and second-line technical support.
Tough market
During Q2, Telenet’s postpaid mobile base declined by 500 while its broadband base declined by 4,800. Despite the “intensely competitive market environment”, the sequential improvement was driven by successful marketing campaigns and the launch of BASE Internet and BASE TV in early June.
Its revenue of $755.1 million in Q2 2024 decreased 1.6% YoY on a reported basis and 0.9% on a rebased basis. The rebased decrease was primarily driven by a decrease in B2B wholesale revenue following the loss of the Voo MVNO contract and a decrease in mobile revenue driven by lower interconnect revenue and handset sales, partially offset by the benefit of the June 2023 price rise.