Virgin Media appoints Telefonica exec as Ireland boss

Tony Hanway

Virgin Media has appointed longstanding Telefonica executive, Tony Hanway, as CEO of its Irish operations.

Hanway is set to join the company on Monday and after a short transition period will take on the role and join the Virgin Media executive committee from November 2.

Hanway takes over from Magnus Ternsjö, who is leaving Virgin Media to take the chief executive role at UPC Hungary – an internal switch between two Liberty Global-owned companies.

Hanway joined Telefonica in 2005 and latterly worked as chief commercial officer of O2 in Germany. He previously held a number of different roles at the firm, including CEO of O2 in Ireland and consumer director of O2 in the Czech Republic.

Prior to this, held senior roles at AOL Europe and was also chairman of the Irish Telecom and Internet Federation between 2013 and 2014.

Virgin Media CEO Tom Mockridge said: “Ireland is an important growth market for Virgin Media. I am delighted we have secured an executive of Tony’s calibre to lead the team and deliver on our big plans to boost competition for consumers.”