Optus snares Telstra exec to lead wholesale division

Optus has poached former Telstra retail executive Stuart Bird to front its wholesale and satellite division.

Stuart Bird

Bird has been appointed managing director of wholesale and satellite, replacing Robert Parcell who retired at the end of April.

The executive has held various roles at Telstra over the past eight years, spanning mobile, fixed and more recently home and business products, including NBN sales and bundling.

He is also a former head of marketing at Vodafone Australia.

Optus chief Allan Lew said in a statement that Bird’s focus would initially be spent “expanding Optus’ wholesale NBN offering, delivering a competitive suite of mobile products and services for our wholesale partners, and expanding our satellite customer base across Australasia”.

The telco did not say when Bird would officially begin the role.

Nitesh Naidoo – who is vice president of finance in Optus’ consumer division – is acting in the role in the interim.