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Telecom has dismissed suggestions it is about to appoint British Telecom executive Paul Reynolds to its top job.
Australian media reports said Telecom had whittled its shortlist down to two candidates to replace Theresa Gattung, who steps down as CEO at the end of June, one of whom is Reynolds, BT's head of wholesale.
Telecom chairman Wayne Boyd said the reports of an appointment were "pure speculation".
"We are still working on a shortlist," said Boyd.
Not making that shortlist, according to the story in the Australian, is Telecom's chief financial officer, Marko Bogoievski.
Bogoievski has been among those fronting for the company as Gattung withdraws from the top role.
Reynolds was tipped to be a candidate for Telecom's top job in March after the Business Herald revealed a director and recruitment agency representative flew to Australia and the UK to begin the hunt for a new chief executive.
Reynolds, 50, became head of BT's wholesale unit in 2000 and was appointed a director the next year.
He has guided the wholesale unit through BT's voluntary separation in 2005, experience likely to make him a frontrunner for Telecom's chief executive.
The Government is advocating a similar operational separation for Telecom, splitting it into three - retail, wholesale and network units.
