M2 Telecommunications founder Vaughan Bowen has stepped down as the sub-wholesaler's chief executive to focus on its merger and acquisitions strategy.
Bowen, who established the company in 1999, said in an ASX statement that he would give way to the company's chief operating officer, Geoff Horth, after the annual general meeting on October 28.
Horth had been brought into M2 Telecommunications to help negotiate the purchases of service provider People Telecom and IP telephony brand Commander two years ago.
He has maintained the chief operating role for the past year, which had an effective overlap with Bowen as chief executive.
Bowen had endorsed Horth for the role. The company said in a statement that the board of directors was "united" in Horth's appointment.
"I saw the opportunity to take my role from one which is all aspects of the business, as a CEO's role inevitably is, to one which is more focused on the strategic opportunities that the company is presented with," Bowen told Boardroom Radio following the announcement.
"Acquisitions is an area I'm very interested in pursuing both in Australia and New Zealand for the company."
He said the role was one that would address the "changing landscape" for the telco industry presented by the National Broadband Network.
The company had signed and connected its subsidiary Southern Cross Telco to Telstra's sub-wholesale aggregation product for the fibre network.
M2 had continued on an aggressive buying streak of late, snapping up Clear Telecoms, Austar's mobile customer base and Darwin-based telco eDirect over three months earlier this year.
Horth said the company would focus on growing its internal sales team and channel business over the next 12 months.
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