Interview: Katie Milligan, Openreach's CCO and chair of its Scotland board

Leader keen to foster power of vulnerability to drive connection and eliminate hierarchies in workplace.

Katie Milligan is chief commercial officer at Openreach, which says it builds and maintains the UK’s largest broadband network, while she is also chair of the organisation’s Scotland board. Her responsibilities at the firm that in the year to March 2023 turned over £5.7 billion, include its entire portfolio of products and services, overseeing its relationships with its customers – nearly 700 service-providers such as BT, Sky, TalkTalk, and Vodafone that use its network to provide broadband, TV, phone, data and mobile services to their customers.

But along with these, another key priority for her is helping foster a working culture where people can connect by openly discussing vulnerabilities, such as a time they lost a foothold on their journey up the career ladder, and she feels such moments can actually spur success.

Milligan grew up in Ayrshire, and after studying at Strathclyde Business School, moved to London and started on the graduate scheme at BT, but didn’t find anyone that sounded like her, for example. “I was forever searching on whether or not I could find anyone that had similarities or anyone that had struggled a bit, but yet they still managed to [be successful]. And I feel it's my job to give that back – I don’t want people to think everyone’s picture perfect, because no-one is.”

The executive has since 2009 been part of the team at Openreach, which is owned by BT Group. Picture: Lisa Ferguson.

Recently presenting at Edinburgh Chamber’s Inspiring Women in Business event, she says a game-changer for her when feeling intimidated by the seniority of top brass execs was seeing them as a person rather than a title, helping her find a connection. “I don't know about them, but it certainly made me more comfortable. And the more comfortable you are, the easier it is for you to shine, you're not on the back foot. Whenever anyone's coming into a meeting, I try and level it – there’s no point having a hierarchy. The leaders that inspire me are the ones that are more vulnerable.”

She says she now works in culture that suits her after experiencing not fitting in growing up, and then coming to realise that she would want to fit into an organisation where she felt safe and able to prosper. “And I think what I've learned is, that's what everyone deserves to feel.”

The executive has since 2009 been part of the team at Openreach, which is owned by BT Group (which last year completed a multi-million pound revamp of its flagship Glasgow office) but was hived off as a legally separate entity after a review in 2005 by communications watchdog Ofcom, which believed a new organisation was needed to make sure all communications providers could access its network fairly.

And it has been working at pace to bring ultrafast full-fibre broadband (which uses glass threads thinner than human hairs) to people and organisations including businesses across the UK. In December 2023 it said it had reached the halfway point in its bid to roll out full-fibre broadband to 25 million premises across the UK by the end of 2026, and is now targeting up to 30 million by the end of 2030. The last month of last year also saw it announce a further £50 million investment in Scotland, and bringing full-fibre broadband to another 167,000 homes and businesses. The totals are now about £330m and 1.1m respectively.

'Whenever anyone's coming into a meeting, I try and level it – there’s no point having a hierarchy,' says the CCO. Picture: Lisa Ferguson.

In terms of areas that are already hooked up to the most hi-tech capabilities, Openreach in October last year revealed the top 20 Scottish locations with its best ultrafast broadband coverage – with Milligan’s hometown of Ardrossan coming in at 14th place. She stresses that she would never dare try and seek favouritism, adding that the firm has very strict legal guardrails for where it rolls out its top connectivity. “But I must admit, there was a very wry smile whenever I saw Ardrossan appear.”

It has also been working with the Scottish Government on the latter’s R100 programme to deliver fibre infrastructure to 114,000 of the nation’s most remote homes and businesses. However, there has been criticism over long delays, and last month it was noted that just 15 per cent of properties in the north and North-east had been connected, well after the 2021 target, for example. “I think it was a slower start than we wanted,” says Milligan, and says R100 premises are at least 20 times more difficult to install than standard equivalents.

And she said in October: “If someone had designed a network planner’s worst nightmare, it would look a lot like Scotland… But thankfully, our engineers love a challenge.” As well as troublesome topology, other hurdles for the firm include overcoming what can be the slow process of getting permissions to work on privately owned land for engineers to bring to life ultra digital capabilties.

Openreach in Scotland alone has 4,000 staff – Milligan says if her mum spots an Openreach van she will sometimes knock on the door and ask if they know her daughter - out of about ten times that across the UK. And she is adamant that connectivity can be “transformative” to people, and new generations reaching working age “can live and work in their own local community” and be running e-commerce businesses, while firms can access a pool of untapped talent, she adds. Virgin Media O2 has calculated that rural connectivity could add £8.8n to the UK economy by increasing turnover for the UK’s rural manufacturing businesses by more than 7 per cent.

Milligan’s own role encompasses being out in the field with engineers as well as speaking to politicians, for example. “I like to try and get out and about – you can’t understand an organisation unless you can understand your people. Every hour is different – and that's the bit that I love”.