Ben Verwaayen is to step down as CEO of BT at the end of the month after six years. Verwaayen is widely credited with transforming the telco into a leaner company less reliant on dwindling revenues from traditional telephone services. BT shares rose 1.5p on the news.

BT Chairman Sir Mike Rake said in a statement that Verwaayen had ‘transformed BT from being a deeply troubled organisation into a thriving business with global capability and a clear strategy for the future.”

Verwaayen’s replacement, BT Retail division CEO Ian Livingston was the BT board’s unanimous choice, said Rake. He will be replaced by Gavin Patterson, head of BT's consumer division.

Fierce price competition in the broadband market contributed to BT revenues for the third quarter of 2007 remaining flat at £5.1bn, 1 per cent up on the same period in 2006. Pre-tax profits fell by 30 per cent from £639m to £447m, with £76m restructuring costs taking their toll.

Verwaayen has implemented a number of cost cutting measures at BT during his tenure, including sweeping job cuts – 5,000 managers are set to have left the company by the end of the current financial year.

He was also instrumental in the design and ongoing implementation of BT’s 21st Century Network, which the company hopes will shave £1bn a year off its operational costs from 2011 onwards.