Paul Reynolds, the CEO of BT Wholesale, the largest division of BT Group plc, is leaving the company in September to become the CEO of Telecom New Zealand Ltd., according to a press release from the largest British phone company. (See Reynolds Quits BT.) New Zealand's sheep-to-human ratio, now 10 to 1, is unlikely to budge much as a result.

Reynolds has held his current position at BT since 2001 and is one of the main architects of the massive 21CN project, which aims to shut off the company's old telephone infrastructure and replace it with an all-IP network. (See BT Switches on 21CN.)

Speculation as to Reynolds's imminent departure arose back in April when he started to have more of a diminished role at BT. When Matt Beal had the position of CTO of BT Wholesale created out of thin air for him at that time, it was rumored that he was being groomed to replace Reynolds as CEO. (See Top Team Changes at BT's 21CN .)

A representative from BT would not comment as to whether or not Beal will in fact replace Reynolds now that the announcement is official.

Reynolds has reportedly been tapped to fill the position at TNZ to oversee the breakup of its operations, something he has experience doing at BT with the division of that company into its current retail and wholesale groups. (See Telcos Consider the Splits.) Reynolds is also allegedly the tallest man in telecom, according to Light Reading's Ray Le Maistre.

(For LRTV interviews with Paul Reynolds and Matt Beal, please see Paul Reynolds, CEO, BT Wholesale, Paul Reynolds, CEO, BT Wholesale, Matt Beal, CTO, BT Wholesale.)

— Raymond McConville, Reporter, Light Reading