Openreach appoints James Lowther as managing director for commercial

• Experienced telecoms leader joins Openreach Executive to drive commercial strategy and growth

Openreach today announced the appointment of James Lowther as its new Managing Director for Commercial, effective January 2026.

James will join the Openreach Executive team and report to Deputy CEO, Katie Milligan, as the company strengthens its leadership during a pivotal period for the UK broadband market.

James brings more than 20 years of experience in the telecommunications sector, with a proven track record of driving growth and transformation across multiple markets. He began his career at BT before holding senior roles at Virgin Media, where he led strategy and propositions, and later moved to Sweden to head the consumer division at Com Hem (now Tele2 Group).

James subsequently served as Chief Marketing Officer at Gigaclear and Group Chief Commercial Officer at Lebara, before becoming CEO of Truespeed, where he spearheaded the company’s expansion by accelerating their full-fibre rollout and overseeing the merger with County Broadband.

Commenting on his appointment, Katie Milligan, Deputy CEO, Openreach said: “James brings exceptional experience and insight from across the telecoms industry, including international markets. His skills and leadership will be really valuable as we strengthen our commercial strategy and continue to connect millions of customers to our new full fibre network in the most competitive market we’ve ever faced.”

James said: “I’m excited to be joining Openreach at a time when the UK broadband market has become more competitive than ever. My focus is on helping Katie and the Openreach team to sharpen our commercial edge by listening to customers, making it simpler to do business with us and developing propositions that accelerate the adoption of our fast, reliable and secure connectivity.

“Our mission is critical for the UK and I’m really looking forward to working closely with Communications Providers to drive brilliant outcomes for their businesses, their customers and for Openreach.”