MADRID (dpa-AFX) - Telefonica SA, Spain's biggest phone company, said Monday that it has embarked on major restructuring through sweeping changes in its organization and structure, with the aim of reenforcing its status as a global leader in the digital world.
One of the three main changes in the company's new organizational structure is creation of a new business unit, Telefónica Digital, headquartered in London with regional offices in Madrid, Sao Paulo, Silicon Valley and certain strategic hubs in Asia.
The new business unit will comprise 2,500 highly skilled professionals from Telefónica's New Global Services Unit, Terra, Tuenti, Jajah, Telefónica R+D and Media Networks, among others. Mathew Key, who until now was in charge of Telefónica Europe, will lead the new Telefónica Digital unit.
The company will also streamline the business into two large blocks, Europe and Latin America. Operations in Spain will be included in Europe.
José María Alvarez-Pallete, head of Telefónica Latin America until now, will oversee Europe, while Santiago Fernandez Valbuena, previously General Manager of Strategy, Finance and Corporate Development, will be in charge of Latin America. This change entails the addition of Ángel Vilá to the Executive Committee as Head of Finance and Corporate Development.
The restructuring will also result in the creation of a Global Resources operating unit designed to ensure the profitability and sustainability of the business by leveraging and unlocking economies of scale, as well as driving Telefónica's transformation into a fully global company. This unit will be overseen by Guillermo Ansaldo, until now the head of Telefónica Spain.
The new organisational structure will revolve around a nine-member Executive Committee, backed by a Transformation Committee composed of the company's senior managers, Telefonica said.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX