The chairman of Openreach, BT Group’s broadband infrastructure arm, has pulled out of the race to head Ofcom, the media regulator.

Sky News has learnt that Mike McTighe has decided not to continue participating in the search process, which has been dogged by controversy for months.

A Whitehall source confirmed that Mr McTighe had indicated in recent days that he did not wish to be considered for the Ofcom job.

His withdrawal comes days after Lord Grade, the former BBC and ITV chairman, was reported to have thrown his hat into the ring for the job.

Maggie Carver has been Ofcom’s interim chair for more than a year, having stepped in to replace Lord Burns in the role.

Boris Johnson’s preferred candidate for the job, the former Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre, withdrew from the process in November, lambasting those who had deemed him unsuitable for the job.

The search for a chair of the media and telecoms regulator comes at a critical time for key areas of policy relating to online harms, the future of the BBC, and the speed at which fast broadband services are being rolled out across Britain.

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Sue Gray, the senior civil servant whose report into lockdown-busting parties in Downing Street was published in partial form this week, is heading a panel presiding over the Ofcom appointment.

The search process was last week labelled a “shambles” that would “put a reality TV series to shame” by Julian Knight, the MP who chairs the Commons culture select committee.

A spokesman for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport declined to comment on Tuesday, while Mr McTighe could not be reached for comment.

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