LONDON, Sept 2 (Reuters) - British fibre broadband

network CityFibre's founder Greg Mesch has stepped down as chief

executive and has been succeeded by chief operating officer

Simon Holden with immediate effect, the company said on Tuesday.

Mesch, who has led the company since it was founded in 2011,

has been appointed vice chairman, it said.

Mesch said it was an obvious time to make the change given

that he was 65 and had been relentlessly working on CityFibre

24/7 for 15 years, culminating in signing its biggest customer,

Sky last year.

"When I closed the Sky contract, it was kind of the end

because it took me almost 12 years from the first meeting with

Sky to get them over the line," he told Reuters in an interview.

"We also did the financing. So when the financing was done

we waited until after the summer holidays and decided to make

the announcement."

"It's a very, very good succession plan. Simon has been in

this company for six years," he added.

CityFibre, which competes with the likes of BT and

Virgin Media O2 in the UK, secured a $3

billion financing in July to fund its network and acquire

smaller rivals.

The company, backed by Antin Infrastructure Partners and

Goldman Sachs ( GS ), in February reported its first full year of

profit, and aims to expand its wholesale network to more than 8

million premises.

It has built Britain's third-largest broadband network,

selling fibre connections via retail providers including

Vodafone, TalkTalk and Sky, its newest customer.

Mesch, who plans to move back to his native United States,

said he would continue to support CityFibre's long-term

direction as vice chairman.