NEW YORK-Rodney J. Olsen said he will step down July 1 as acting chief executive officer of Cable & Wireless plc, the British multinational telecommunications conglomerate.
With wireless telecommunications operations covering more than 90 million equity-adjusted population equivalents, the company ranks itself among the top three international cellular operators.
An acrimonious and widely publicized disagreement between the company’s chairman, Lord Young, and its CEO, James Ross, resulted in their simultaneous dismissal by the board of directors last November. N. Brian Smith is the new chairman.
“To lose one in a day is bad luck. To lose two would seem quite foolish. But a public spat in the newspapers was intolerable to the board,” said Olsen, who will become second in command as deputy group chief executive.
Olsen made his remarks at a meeting June 6 with members of the New York Society of Security Analysts.
The incoming CEO of Cable & Wireless plc is Richard H. Brown, president and CEO of H&R Block Inc. and former vice president of Ameritech Corp. Brown also has held executive positions with Sprint Corp. Olsen, who served on the CEO search committee, said the choice of an American “will help enhance our strategy in the United States,” but that Brown’s strong telecommunications background was the primary deciding factor in his selection.
American intervention of another sort, however, was viewed as so unwelcome that it played a significant role in the recent decision to terminate merger talks between Cable & Wireless plc and British Telecommunications plc. “BT has 20 percent ownership of MCI [Communications Corp.], and the consent process could have given U.S. regulators the right and the opportunity to delve into every line of Cable & Wireless business,” Olsen said.
Now that the grueling processes of chief executive selection and British Telecom merger talks are behind him, Olsen said he would renew his focus on the emerging markets in the Asia Pacific region.
Olsen, who lived in Hong Kong for 15 years, said he is optimistic that the government of the People’s Republic of China will continue its policy of separation of business and politics, both in China and in Hong Kong.
Cable & Wireless has an alliance with Hongkong Telecom, which has experienced strong demand for cellular phone service. “Last year, customer growth was 66 percent, and we now have more than 300,000 customers and more than 35 percent market share,” Olsen said.
“Our partnership in Japan with NTT in PHS (personal handyphone system), a mobile technology that is a lot cheaper than mobile communications as we know it, is experiencing explosive growth,” Olsen said.
Established last October as PHS International, the Hong Kong-based partnership includes NTT, NTT DoCoMo, Itochu and Hongkong Telecom. Its purpose is to “promote PHS primarily in Asia but also around the world,” according to Cable & Wireless’ 1996 annual report.
