The new board will include CEO Eelco Blok, De Jager, Farwerck and the yet-to-be-named CCO.
We have been underlining for some time the need for KPN to find a heavyweight CFO. Since Blok took over as CEO, KPN's quarterly results have been accompanied repeatedly by bad news, such as profit warnings, dividend cuts or a new rights issue. The company is operating in a turbulent market, but it's up to the CFO to keep the finances on course and ensure calm for investors. KPN faces tough competition from cable operators on the access market and OTT providers on the services market. Three important changes are also underway in the background: the proposed merger of Ziggo and UPC, KPN's plan to take control of Reggefiber, and the ACM's next round of market analyses for regulation in the period to 2018.
This all puts the telecom sector at the sharp edge of finance, commercial/marketing and technology developments (such as LTE and FTTH), with regulation an added factor for uncertainty. This places big demands on the management of telecom companies, and only time will tell whether De Jager will be the right man for the CFO job. He is undoubtedly qualified in financial matters, but KPN needs more than that at the moment. It's clearly no coincidence that at the same time as his appointment KPN is changing the composition of its board. Its press release even started with the latter point, rather than first the appointment of De Jager. Adding a COO for day-to-day management and a CCO for commercial strategy should help the board get the job done and compensate for any lack of experience in telecoms. Adding CTO Erik Hoving to the board would also be welcome.
The hope is that the new board will steer KPN into calmer waters, make the right technological choices and with the right CCO, address the market challenges adequately.
