Telefonica has announced the appointment of Emilio Gayo as the new head of its Spanish unit (Telefonica Espana), confirming earlier reports. Gayo, previously in charge of the marketing and commercial segment in Spain, will replace company veteran Luis Miguel Gilperez, who has been in charge of Telefonica’s domestic unit since 2011 and played a leading role in the introduction of the Movistar Fusion convergent offer back in 2013. The bundled package revolutionised the market and had grown to 4.38 million subscribers by the end of Q3 2017.
The company also proposed to split its Latin American division (Telefonica Hispanoamerica) into two new units with Argentina, Chile, Peru and Uruguay now making up the “Hispam Sur” division under Bernardo Quinn, while Colombia, Mexico, Central America, Ecuador and Venezuela would form the “Hispam Norte” unit to be headed by Alfonso Gomez Palacio.
Other changes include the appointment of Fabian Hernandez, previously director of public affairs and regulation in Colombia, as the new CEO of Telefonica Colombia in the place of Alfonso Gomez Palacio, with southern Spain director María Jesus Almazor has been promoted to the new role of Chief Operating Officer of Telefonica Espana. Finally, Mario Martin has been appointed the CEO of infrastructure unit Telxius.
Telefonica chairman Jose Maria Alvarez-Pallete said the changes, which are subject to approval by the board of directors, were designed to help the group adapt to a digital world. “The generational change in Telefonica’s organisational structure will help simplify the company and make it more agile, with definitive focus on management, customer service, growth, efficiency and profitability,” he said.
