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A network failure caused The Netherlands emergency services phone line to go down for almost 4 hours on Monday
The chief executive of KPN has quit his position at the Dutch telco, just 24 hours after a network blackout caused the country’s emergency services line to be unavailable for 4 hours.
Maximo Ibarra was appointed to the role of chief executive officer only last year, will leave the company at the end of September to return to Italy.
KPN has said that the resignation of its CEO is due to family circumstances, rather than being as a result of the EMS blackout, according to a report in the Financial Times.
“I have been with KPN since 2017 and was appointed CEO in 2018. I regret the timing but family reasons gave me no choice. I will dedicate myself [over] the coming months to secure a seamless transfer for my successor,” Ibarra told journalists at the FT.
The Dutch government has launched a formal investigation into Monday’s blackout, which it said was due to a network failure rather than an act of cyber espionage.
KPN’s share price, which had been steadily rising since Ibarra became CEO, fell by 2 per cent upon the news of his resignation.
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