Telecoms giant BT Group has announced the appointment of former Football Association chief executive Adam Crozier as its new chairman.

Crozier, who has also held top positions at ITV and Royal Mail, will take over from outgoing chairman Jan du Plessis in December and lead on BT’s plan to roll out full-fibre broadband across the UK.

Last month, BT and its mobile brand EE announced a plan to “connect the entire UK to 5G with a unified mobile, Wi-Fi and fibre infrastructure” within the next seven years. The company said co-ordinating this £12 billion fibre roll-out will be Crozier’s key goal upon taking up the chairmanship.

Earlier this year, EE announced that it had increased its coverage to span 160 locations in the UK and has pledged to cover half of the country by 2023. As part of the planned expansion, BT recently secured 80MHz of spectrum in Ofcom’s latest auction of the 700MHz and 3.6-3.8GHz bands and expanded its signal reach by 4,500 square miles.

Crozier said he was “honoured by the appointment” and would resign as chairman of Asos and non-executive chairman of Sony ahead of the move to BT. The 57-year-old Scottish businessman became the youngest ever chairman of the FA when appointed in 2000 before a seven year spell as chief executive of Royal Mail. More recently he served as chief executive of ITV from 2010-2017.

Commenting on his new role, Crozier said: “BT is a hugely important company, with a critical role to play in building the digital networks and services to support the UK’s future. I look forward to working with the board, [chief executive] Philip [Jansen] and his executive team to create value for all our stakeholders.”

Iain Conn, BT's senior independent director, said Crozier was the "unanimous choice" of the board for the role. Crozier will continue as chairman of Whitbread Group, which owns Premier Inn, alongside his new position at BT.

Conn added: “He [Crozier] has significant experience in leading public company boards, developing teams and managing stakeholders and brings a strong transformational and operational track record in large-scale executive roles.”

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