Colt CEO makes way for a new Manning

Chisholm had previously announced his intention of stepping down from the position this year and will remain a member of the board.

Chisholm was the first managing director of Colt when it was established to challenge BT's monopoly of high-capacity communications in 1992. Since then, Colt has laid over 2,676km of trunk fibre-optic cable in city networks and expanded throughout the UK and into Europe.

Chisholm was also the first chairman of the Other Licenced Operators Group, the UK telecoms regulatory reform group, from 1993 to 1995.

The company was one of seven cable start-ups in the early wave of de-regulation and is one of the few that have survived. Manning has been with Colt since 1999. He formerly held a number of senior positions in a 25-year career with BT.