BT BT Group PLC

By Simon Zekaria and Tapan Panchal

LONDON--BT Group PLC (BT.A.LN) said Wednesday that it had appointed Brendan Barber and Edward Astle as independent nonexecutive directors of Openreach, the British telecommunications group's infrastructure division, amid the company's ongoing talks with regulator Ofcom over the future of the arm.

The company said the new directors will oversee strategy, investment and service delivery at Openreach.

Mr. Barber was previously the general secretary of the Trades Union Congress and is currently the chairman of employment relations service the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service. Mr. Astle is a former board member of power transmission network owner National Grid PLC (NG.LN).

The appointments join a new board, headed by independent Openreach Chairman Mike McTighe. BT said an unnamed fourth independent nonexecutive would be announced imminently.

"Establishing the new board is central to governance reforms that Openreach has been implementing to become a more transparent and autonomous business. The reorganization program will create increased operational and management independence for Openreach," BT said in a statement.

Openreach Chief Executive Clive Selley, Openreach Chief Finance Officer Clare Sadlier and BT Group Finance Director Simon Lowth will also join the board, BT said.

Ofcom is pursuing the legal separation of Openreach on competition grounds. BT says keeping control of Openreach, which runs the country's network of telecom lines, is key to investment in broadband infrastructure.

Last week, BT shares fell sharply after it announced a deeper-than-expected accounting scandal in Italy that forced the company to take a write-down of £530 million ($670 million).

Write to Simon Zekaria at simon.zekaria@wsj.com and Tapan Panchal at tapan.panchal@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 01, 2017 07:14 ET (12:14 GMT)

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