ALEX BURTON/STUFF

Russell Stanners will leave Vodafone in October after 13 years heading its New Zealand business.

Vodafone New Zealand chief executive Russell Stanners has ruled out a move to Sky Television after announcing he will step down from Vodafone.

Stanners will leave Vodafone in October, after 13 years heading New Zealand's second-largest telecommunications firm.

There had been rumours Stanners – along with Vodafone consumer director Matt Williams – might be in the running to become chief executive of Sky Television.

But Stanners made it clear that he himself would not be moving to Sky.

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"I am ruling it out. My plan is to take a break post November 1 at the beach. Beyond that no plans at all," he said. 

Williams is also due to step down from Vodafone before the end of the year and spokeswoman Elissa Downey would not comment on his plans. 

Vodafone said Stanners would be replaced by Jason Paris, who is currently Vodafone's director for convergence and acceleration, for Asia, the Middle-East and the Asia-Pacific.

Paris had been working at Spark up until December in a senior role reporting to chief executive Simon Moutter, and before that at Television New Zealand, where he was head of digital media and marketing.

Stanners said in a statement that Vodafone NZ would continue to operate as usual until he finished up in October.

"It's been an incredible journey and the time has come for me to step down from my role as Vodafone NZ chief executive," he said. 

"I'm committed to leading our great team until October, and beyond that I wish the company all the best as it enters a new era."

Vodafone shelved a possible sharemarket float of its New Zealand business earlier this year, after testing investor appetite for an initial public offering. Last year its proposed merger with Sky TV was blocked by the Commerce Commission.

 - Stuff