Flag (Fibre Links Around the Globe) has announced the appointment of Paul Abfalter as the company's next CEO.

The subsea cable firm confirmed that Abfalter will take over the role from October 1 as part of a leadership transition at the company.

He will replace current CEO Carl Grivner, who will assume the role of non-executive chairman.

Grivner has been CEO of Flag for the past six years, during which he oversaw the company reemerge from bankruptcy in 2021, before it was snapped up by investment firm 3i Infrastructure in September 2022 for $512 million.

The company was previously known as Global Cloud Xchange, before it rebranded to Flag (Fibre Links Around the Globe) last year.

Abfalter is currently chief strategy & revenue officer at Flag. He joined the company in 2024 and has more than two decades of experience in the telecoms sector, previously spending 22 years at Australian telco Telstra.

According to Flag, the leadership transition is part of the company's Vision 2030 strategy, which is aimed at "investing in critical fiber infrastructure to expand network reach, enhance route diversity and resilience, and meet the evolving connectivity needs of customers around the world."

"Paul's appointment reflects Flag's continued focus on strengthening its global network and delivering long-term value for customers, partners, and stakeholders. His deep knowledge of the business and extensive industry experience position him well to lead Flag through its next phase of growth," said the company in its announcement.

The firm offers capacity on the FA-1, HAWK, Falcon, MEDEX, FEA, IEX, and FNAL systems. The company also operates and/or offers capacity in cable landing stations in Taiwan, Japan, France, the UK, and the US. FLAG also offers modular data center services.

DCD covered Flag in its latest DCD>Magazine issue 61, featuring interviews with Grivner and Abfalter.