The chairman of BT is holding a series of meetings with top investors ahead of its annual meeting next month amid reports of increasing dissatisfaction with the performance of the chief executive, Gavin Patterson.

Last month, Patterson unveiled his new strategy for the company, which includes axing 13,000 jobs, as the telecoms group struggles with increased competition and falling revenues.

Patterson is investing in building up its mobile and TV services to complement its broadband and fixed line business. But he has been criticised for spending billions of pounds on sports rights in an attempt to attract customers to its TV service, as well as the company’s difficult relationship with regulator Ofcom.

Days after the news of the job cuts, the company revealed Patterson was paid £2.3m last year, including a £1.3m bonus and a 1.5% rise in his basic salary.

The company, still reeling from a disastrous 18 months that included an accounting scandal in Italy and a record £42m fine from Ofcom, has seen its share price slump to a six-year low.

The BT chairman, Jan du Plessis, has publicly endorsed Patterson and his strategy. Last month, he said: “You do not build great businesses by being fussed about tomorrow morning’s share price.

“This is a great company, but we’ve got problems and challenges, and we’re going to address them by focusing on the right places, by investing in networks, by investing in converged connectivity, and by reshaping the organisation the way that Gavin announced.”

Representatives of a number of major shareholders have told the Financial Times they are not happy with the chief executive and said they planned to call for further meetings with the company. One said Patterson was not the right man for the job, while others said he was being given his last chance and his strategy seemed to “chop and change”.

But a company source said Du Plessis wrote to shareholders after last month’s strategy update offering follow-up meetings. He has already met a number of them, with another half dozen planned ahead of July’s AGM.

Fund manager Thomas Moore of Aberdeen Standard defended Patterson. Speaking on BBC radio’s Today programme, he said: “I think it’s a tough set of cards he’s been dealt. When you consider the sort of pressures they’ve been under, they would have been there whoever the chief executive would have been.

“Some of them are self-inflicted, like the accounting scandal in Italy, but you’ve got to consider there’s a lot of regulatory pressure on BT to cut tariffs, pressure to improve customer service and pressure on them to contribute to their pension fund and all of that has put a lot of pressure on Gavin Patterson and the dividend is also coming under some pressure.

“It’s not an easy situation, he’s dealing with it with this convergence strategy, investing in mobile and TV alongside broadband and fixed line.”