Sir Peter Bonfield is to stand down as BT's chief exec at the end of January - almost a year before his current contract expires, the company announced today.

His early departure from the company had been widely predicted following the restructuring of the company which included the rights issue and the demerger of the company's mobile business.

"We have almost completed the very radical transformation programme which we started last year.

"I would like to thank all the great BT people who have supported me so strongly through six action-packed years.

"We have had our successes and have had our share of disappointments but we have seen some amazing changes in our industry and completed significant changes in BT," he said.

Unfortunately for Sir Peter, many people are likely to remember his six-year tenure at BT for its "disappointments" rather than the "successes".

Despite this apparent failure, Sir Peter will walk away with a pay-off of around £1.5 million. Just imagine how much he would have got if he'd been successful at turning BT into a world-class telecoms company.

BT is currently on the hunt for a successor. ®