Vodafone boss to step down next year

Sir Chris Gent, chief executive of telecoms giant Vodafone, is to step down in July, it was announced today.

The 54-year-old boss is to be replaced by Arun Sarin, chief executive of San Francisco-based Accel-KKR Telecom.

Gent had previously expressed his wish to retire in the latter half of 2003.

A spokeswoman said he had indicated a “couple of times” this year his intention to retire and had said there were “a number of things” he wanted to deliver on before he retired.

Gent, who earned a salary of £1.2m (€1.87m) last year, will receive no pay off, the spokeswoman said.