British Telecommunications Plc has appointed Ben Andradi the successor to John Swingewood in its newly expanded and renamed internet division. Swingewood left last month amicably but rumors of dissent over the structure and funding of the internet division clouded his departure. Many outside and, reportedly, inside BT feel the incumbent telco does not take its internet operations seriously enough.
Andradi will take over BT eBusiness, formerly the Internet and Multimedia Services division, which for the first time will include e-commerce ventures such as Marketsite, its procurement extranet service, and the new BT Spree, a comparative shopping site. In addition, its internet access and content services such as LineOne, BT Internet, Talk21, Excite UK and British Interactive Broadcasting, will fall under the new umbrella. Andradi comes to the job fresh from his role as EMEA VP of communications sector services for IBM Global Services.
