Vodafone Group has tapped T-Mobile USA's former chief executive Philipp Humm to lead a new operating region, Northern & Central Europe.
Humm joins the global mobile-phone giant following news this week that he had stepped down from Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile USA.
Vodafone on Thursday announced creating two new operating regions: Northern & Central Europe and Southern Europe.
Humm will be in charge of a vast region encompassing Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, Turkey, Ireland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Romania. Vodafone's Paolo Bertoluzzo has been named chief executive over Southern Europe, which covers Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Albania and Malta. Vodafone said Bertoluzzo will continue in his role as chief executive of Vodafone Italy.
Ovum senior telecoms strategy analyst Emeka Obiodu is not surprised that Vodafone tapped Humm considering his previous experience running T-Mobile Germany.
“Accordingly, his appeal is not so much for what he did or did not do during his time at T-Mobile USA, rather it is about getting someone who understands Vodafone’s northern European markets well, and someone who can hit the ground running from the start," the analyst said.
Deutsche Telekom on Wednesday said Humm had resigned as CEO of T-Mobile USA and that a search was underway for a new leader.
