Three reshuffles commercial unit as CCO departs

Three CFO Richard Woodward is to take on the entirety of the operator’s commercial activities following the departure of Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) Grant Stevenson.

Stevenson became CCO in February 2017 having previously served as a senior advisor to parent company CK Hutchison and as CFO for Three’s Scandinavian business.

He is returning home to Australia, where he has also worked for Hutchison ventures, for family reasons after 18 months in his present role. 

Three reshuffle

The shakeup is significant because the commercial activities of Three will be combined into a single unit. Previously Stevenson was responsible for Three-branded products, while Woodward controlled wholesale and non-Three branded services like the SMARTY SIM-Only MVNO.

Darren Purkis, current deputy CFO, will be promoted to the top job having been with Three for nine years, during which he has been retail CFO and Finance Director. He previously had roles at Warehouse Fashions, Borders Books, Kingfisher and Marks & Spencer.

Both changes will take effect on 1 June.

Three now has more than 10 million users on its network, which now delivers 4G to 98.5 per cent of the UK population. Revenue for the past year was up 7 per cent to £2.4 billion as Three recorded its lowest ever handset contract churn rate of just 1.1 percent.

Steve McCaskill is TechRadar Pro's resident mobile industry expert, covering all aspects of the UK and global news, from operators to service providers and everything in between. He is a former editor of Silicon UK and journalist with over a decade's experience in the technology industry, writing about technology, in particular, telecoms, mobile and sports tech, sports, video games and media.