Telecom chief executive Paul Reynolds will leave the company in the middle of next year.
Until then, Dr Reynolds is leading Telecom through plans to split into two separate companies, which it has to do in order to participate in the Government's ultra fast broadband intiative.
Dr Reynolds says he has not had time to develop his plans for the next phase, but aims to retain strong ties with New Zealand.
The board will begin looking for a new chief executive to take up the role from the middle of next year, coinciding with the new financial year.
The company on Wednesday issued more information about its plans to demerge.
The Telecommunication's Users Association says Dr Reynolds has weathered some problems like last year's XT network failure well.
Chief executive Paul Brislen says he's had a positive impact on the business.
Technology commentator Peter Griffin says Telecom's results this year were reasonable, but other companies have made big in-roads into the telco market.
Shares in Telecom have plunged more than 7% after the telco released more detail about the plans to split into two.
By midday on Wednesday, they were down 19 cents to $2.54 each.
