Lalani steps down from troubled BT arm

BT'S TROUBLED global services business has claimed another high profile casualty, with Hanif Lalani stepping down from the telecoms giant after 26 years.

The former group finance director, Lalani was asked to step in as chief executive of global services some 15 months ago.

Global services provides complex IT projects for companies internationally. Once dubbed BT's "growth engine", its previous chief executive Francois Barrault was ousted in October 2008 as it became clear many of its major contracts were unprofitable. The division has been at the root of three profits warnings since.

Lalani was born in Uganda, but his family was expelled from the country under orders from Idi Amin. He joined BT in 1983, working up through the ranks.

Yesterday, the company praised his efforts in turning around the global services business, at which underlying earnings are now recovering, but said it needed a new leader after heavy cut backs.

Chief executive Ian Livingston, who was new in the post when the problems at global services emerged, said he was grateful for Lalani taking such a difficult role.

"He and his team firstly stabilised and then started to turn around the business delivering significantly improved financial results and world class customer service," he said.

The former state-owned telecom named Jeff Kelly as Lalani's replacement. An American with more than 25 years in the IT services industry, Kelly most recently ran the US business of technology services firm EDS.