July 23 (Reuters) - BT Group, Britain's biggest

broadband and mobile services provider, is set to name Virgin

Media O2's chief financial officer, Patricia Cobian, as its

first female finance chief, The Telegraph reported on Wednesday,

citing unnamed sources.

Cobian held the finance chief position at Telefonica's

UK mobile network O2 since 2016, before transitioning to the

same role at Virgin Media O2 following the completion of the

50-50 joint venture between Telefonica and Liberty

Global ( LBTYA ) in 2021.

BT and Virgin Media O2 declined to comment on the

report.

Sky News reported on Monday that BT was looking for a

new finance chief to succeed

Simon Lowth

, who will retire within a year. He was appointed BT CFO in

2016.

Cobian would join BT at a time when it is looking to cut

costs through layoffs and advances in artificial intelligence.

"Depending on what we learn from AI . . . there may be

an opportunity for BT to be even smaller by the end of the

decade," Chief Executive Allison Kirkby

told Financial Times

in June.

The company said in 2023 that it planned to cut as many

as 55,000 jobs, including contractors, by 2030.

(Reporting by Rishabh Jaiswal in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil

D'Silva)