Media speculation on potential candidates to replace outgoing Vodafone Group CEO Nick Read continued, with Liberty Global chief development officer Andrea Salvato the latest name connected with the role.

UK newspaper The Mail on Sunday claimed Salvato is a potential candidate alongside previously floated names, which include industry veteran Olaf Swantee and Stephen Carter, CEO of events company Informa and current non-executive director at the operator group.

Salvato leads M&A and other business development activities at Liberty Global, a company involved in a massive transaction with Vodafone for various European assets which completed in 2019.

The executive is also on the board of Vodafone UK rival Virgin Media O2, an operation jointly owned by Liberty Global and Telefonica.

Last week the same publication, and various others, also raised former Verizon Consumer Group CEO Ronan Dunne as an option alongside Vodafone’s former UK boss Nick Jeffery.

Read is scheduled to leave the Vodafone hot seat at the end of the month, with CFO Margherita Della Valle taking interim charge until a permanent replacement is found.

The announcement of his upcoming departure came with the company apparently still in talks over a potential UK merger with rival 3 and various reports during the course of 2022 of pressure from investors for an overhaul of the business.