Vodafone Group’s traumatic few weeks has resulted in a new organisational structure that produces three new business units – Europe; Central Europe, Middle East, Asia Pacific and Affiliates; and New Business and Innovation. Each will have its own chief executive.
The third one is obviously the interesting development; it is charged with finding new sources of revenue and developing product lines, in particular exploring opportunities coming converged and mobile internet services. Thomas Geitner, currently the group’s chief technology officer, will run it; Tim Miles, current chief executive of Vodafone UK, will replace him as CTO.
Europe goes to Bill Morrow, latterly president of Vodafone KK (the Japanese business that was recently sold to Softbank for £8.9bn). “Given the high penetration levels and competitive nature of these markets the unit will focus on leveraging its unique regional scale and reducing costs,” Vodafone said in a statement.
Paul Donovan will run the Central European business; he was formerly chief executive of “Other Vodafone Subsidiaries”. His bailiwick includes the emerging markets and minority interests including Verizon Wireless, China Mobile and Vodacom.
Meanwhile other parts of Vodafone’s geographically dispersed empire seem to be up for grabs, especially those where it holds a minority interest. Following the sale of its Japanese and Swedish operations, Vodafone has said that it is not willing to sell its share in Verizon – but Belgacom shares have jumped in recent weeks on the reports that the Belgian operator was thinking of buying out Vodafone’s 25% stake in Proximus.
Europe goes to Bill Morrow, latterly president of Vodafone KK (the Japanese business that was recently sold to Softbank for £8.9bn). “Given the high penetration levels and competitive nature of these markets the unit will focus on leveraging its unique regional scale and reducing costs,” Vodafone said in a statement.
Paul Donovan will run the Central European business; he was formerly chief executive of “Other Vodafone Subsidiaries”. His bailiwick includes the emerging markets and minority interests including Verizon Wireless, China Mobile and Vodacom.
Meanwhile other parts of Vodafone’s geographically dispersed empire seem to be up for grabs, especially those where it holds a minority interest. Following the sale of its Japanese and Swedish operations, Vodafone has said that it is not willing to sell its share in Verizon – but Belgacom shares have jumped in recent weeks on the reports that the Belgian operator was thinking of buying out Vodafone’s 25% stake in Proximus.