UK Mobile joint venture Everything Everywhere axes 22 middle managers

Everything Everywhere confirmed on Wednesday it has cut 22 middle management jobs as part of the U.K. mobile joint venture's plan to become more agile.

A spokesman for Everything Everywhere told Total Telecom that the company's senior management team was instructed at the beginning of September by new chief executive Olaf Swantee to conduct a strategic review of its 140 vice president and director roles.

"The team we had at the time was the right team for the integration [of Orange and T-Mobile]... now we have to identify the right team that's going to move the business forward," the spokesman explained.

He said 19 directors and three vice presidents will leave Everything Everywhere; most of the individuals will leave by the end of October, while some will stay on "a little bit longer".

"The new structure will help the company be more nimble and ensure it is keeping in touch with customers' needs," said the spokesman.

Wednesday's cull means 28 vice president and director-level managers have now left Orange and T-Mobile's joint venture since Swantee took charge. The former Orange executive replaced Tom Alexander, who announced his resignation in July.

Swantee's first official act as chief executive was to cut Everything Everywhere's senior management team from 26 people down to 10. The move saw the departure of deputy CEO and chief financial officer Richard Moat, and chief commercial officer Andrew Ralston.

As part of the reshuffle, Fotis Karonis, Everything Everywhere's IT vice president, was appointed acting chief technology officer. However, it emerged on Wednesday that Karonis has now been given the CTO role permanently.

"I've tasked Fotis with creating not just the U.K.'s biggest, but the U.K.'s best network and infrastructure," said Swantee in an internal email seen by Total Telecom.

"Fotis had previously been leading the highly complex IT projects within the business, joining up the two legacy Orange and T-Mobile systems," he said. "As chief technology officer, Fotis will now be responsible for all of our network and information technologies.