Spanish telecom giant Telefonica has announced a organisational restructure which it has claimed will lay ‘the foundations for reinforcing [its] status as a global player and leader in the digital environment’.
The company has revealed three main changes in its corporate structure, with the first of those being the creation of a new business unit, Telefonica Digital, to be headquartered in London, with regional offices in Madrid, Sao Paulo, Silicon Valley and certain strategic hubs in Asia. The new unit will aim to ‘bolster Telefonica’s place in the digital world and leverage any growth opportunities arising in this environment,’ and will comprise around 2,500 employees from Telefonica’s new Global Services Unit, Terra, Tuenti, Jajah, Telefonica R+D and Media Networks, among others.
Meanwhile, Telefonica has revealed it will streamline its businesses’ geographical operations ‘based on stages of market. Under the revamped structure the company will operate just two subsidiary groups – Europe and Latin America –.
Santiago Fernández Valbuena, previously general manager of strategy, finance and corporate development, will be in charge of Latin America, which also operates largely under the Movistar brand.
Chairman and CEO César Alierta has for the first time united its Spanish operations with the rest of Europe, including the UK, Ireland, Germany and the Czech Republic, under a single management team. Before the decision Spain’s Movistar and the rest of Europe’s O2 have been separately managed.
The new head of Telefónica Europe is José María Álvarez-Pallete, until now head of Telefónica Latin America. Matthew Key, who was head of Telefónica Europe, excluding Spain, will run Telefónica Digital.
The group also announced the creation of a Global Resources operating unit, which it said is ‘designed to ensure the profitability and sustainability of the business by leveraging and unlocking economies of scale, as well as driving Telefonica’s transformation into a fully global company’. This unit will be overseen by Guillermo Ansaldo, until now the head of Telefónica Spain.
