Emma Gilthorpe
Group Director, Industry Policy and Regulation, BT
Emma Gilthorpe was appointed as BT’s Group Director, Industry Policy and Regulation in July 2007 where she has responsibility for the company’s public policy positions on topics ranging from convergence to infrastructure investment to public sector broadcasting.
Her appointment followed an eighteen month stint at Openreach as Director of Equivalence, Regulatory & Public Affairs. Emma was one of the lead advocates in the telecoms industry calling for the operational separation of BT. Her role as part of the Openreach management team afforded her the opportunity to put policy making into practice by driving the implementation of Ofcom’s findings from the Telecoms Strategic Review and the realisation of the concept of “equivalence”.
Prior to joining Openreach Emma was Group Director Regulatory Affairs Cable & Wireless. Her responsibilities covered over 30 geographies spanning all of C&W’s businesses and included all aspects of regulatory and competition policy from liberalisation negotiations to merger clearances.
Emma’s career began in commercial and marketing roles at C&W moving into the regulatory arena in 1992 whilst at Hong Kong Telecom where she negotiated the ending of their domestic monopoly with Government. Returning to the UK in 1994 she spent time at Mercury Communications as a Regulatory Advisor and become Head of International Regulatory Policy in 1997. In January 1999 she was appointed Director of Regulatory Policy for Cable & Wireless Communications with overall accountability for the company’s regulatory strategy in respect of the telecoms and PayTV markets.
Emma was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1996 and holds a degree in Law & Marketing. Away from work she devotes her time to her 3 children Madeleine, William and Martha and is a keen sailor and skier.
