John Pluthero, the combative executive chairman of Cable & Wireless, has begun his shake-up of the telecoms group’s international division by replacing two key managers.

Chris Hetherington, the chief executive of C&W’s Americas and Caribbean operations, and Frank Mount, C&W International’s chief technology officer, are leaving the company. They have been replaced with Tony Bromfield and Ken McFadyen respectively, both colleagues of Mr Pluthero from his time as chief executive of Energis, which C&W bought in 2005.