- Tim Höttges to remain CEO until the end of 2028
- Srini Gopalan to become new Chief Operating Officer of T-Mobile US
- Rodrigo Diehl appointed new Board Member for Germany
Tim Höttges (62) will remain CEO of Deutsche Telekom. The Supervisory Board has extended his contract, which runs until the end of 2026, ahead of schedule until the end of 2028. At the same time, two experienced managers are moving into new key positions: Srini Gopalan (54), previously responsible for Deutsche Telekom's German business, will become the new Chief Operating Officer of T-Mobile US (TMUS). His successor will be Rodrigo Diehl (49), who is currently still responsible for Magenta Telekom's business in Austria, as of March 1, 2025.
Frank Appel, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Telekom: "With this decision, the Supervisory Board is sending a signal in the direction of continuity and a breath of fresh air. Tim Höttges has made Deutsche Telekom the leading telecommunications company in the world. We are pleased that he has complied with our request to continue his successful work beyond the previous end of his contract. Srini Gopalan, one of our most experienced managers, is strengthening the management team of T-Mobile US. He already knows the company from his almost four years on the Supervisory Board (Board of Directors) of TMUS and can bring all his experience, for example in digital transformation, to the day-to-day business. We hope that Srini Gopalan's move will also further reinforce the successful relationship between T-Mobile US and Deutsche Telekom, bringing value for both companies. With Rodrigo Diehl, we are appointing an outstanding manager for the German business who stands for entrepreneurial success and customer focus."
Tim Höttges, CEO of Deutsche Telekom and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of T-Mobile US: "I am pleased to continue my work at Deutsche Telekom. I was happy to comply with the Supervisory Board's request to extend my contract. I have a lot of fun and strength to continue my work at Deutsche Telekom. The realignment will help us to successfully implement our ambitious goals: We want to make even greater use of global economies of scale and continue to deliver top performance. Srini Gopalan is a first-class choice for T-Mobile US. He has done an excellent job in his previous positions at Deutsche Telekom as Head of Germany and previously Europe. He is an important addition to the management team of T-Mobile US, and, together with our US CEO Mike Sievert, will provide important impetus for the continued success of TMUS and Deutsche Telekom. With Rodrigo Diehl, we are rejuvenating the Board of Management and gaining a strong leader from the Deutsche Telekom team for our German business. His successes in the time before Deutsche Telekom, but also for our Europe business and in Austria, clearly underline this. Srini and Rodrigo stand for what drives us at Deutsche Telekom: growth, innovation and customer focus."
Srini Gopalan, previously Head of Deutsche Telekom Germany and future COO of T-Mobile US: "I would like to thank the people of Telekom Deutschland for the four wonderful years I have spent here. We have achieved a lot together: from scaling fiber optics, to gaining market share every quarter, to digital transformation and much more. I would also like to thank Tim for his support as well as Frank Appel and the Supervisory Board for their trust in me. I am very excited about my new role at T-Mobile US. I have worked with Mike and the entire management team for many years as a member of the Board of Directors. T-Mobile US is in an exciting phase, and I'm looking forward to the momentum there. My role will be to drive the ongoing transformation in the areas of consumer and business, to provide technology solutions and to create value."
Rodrigo Diehl, previously CEO of Magenta Telekom in Austria and future Head of Deutsche Telekom Germany: " I am honored to take on this role and deeply grateful to the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Telekom for their trust. My experience on the Supervisory Board of Telekom Deutschland has allowed me to follow the success of the organization over the past two and a half years, and I am eager to build on the strong legacy established by Srini. The principle of turning customers into fans (Kunden zu Fans machen) will remain central to everything we do. I look forward to collaborating with all my colleagues at Telekom Deutschland and the Management Board of Deutsche Telekom to drive the next chapter of growth and innovation."
CV Tim Höttges
Tim Höttges has been CEO of Deutsche Telekom AG since January 2014. Under his leadership, the company became more global, sustainable, and technologically leading. Important milestones of his work to date have been the merger of T-Mobile and Sprint in the USA, the massive investments primarily in fiber-optic expansion and 5G, and the focus on climate neutrality by 2040. From 2009 until his appointment as Chairman of the Board of Management, he was a member of the Group Board of Management responsible for Finance and Controlling, and from 2006 to 2009 he was responsible for the T-Home division on the Group Board of Management. Prior to that, he worked for Deutsche Telekom's then independent mobile communications subsidiary: among other things, as head of Germany and as responsible for sales and service of the European mobile communications holdings.
After studying business administration at the University of Cologne, Höttges worked for three years in a management consultancy, most recently as a project manager. At the end of 1992, he moved to the VIAG Group in Munich, where he was responsible for Controlling, Corporate Planning and Mergers and Acquisitions since 1997 as a division manager and later as a general representative. As project manager, he played a key role in the merger of VIAG AG and VEBA AG to form E.on AG, which took effect on September 27, 2000. Tim Höttges is the recipient of the prestigious Appeal of Consciences Award 2019, and in 2022 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Ben Gurion University in Be'er Sheva, Israel.
CV Srini Gopalan
Srinivasan Gopalan, born in 1970, British nationality, has been Member of the Board of Management Germany and Spokesman of the Board of Management of Telekom Deutschland GmbH since November 1, 2020. From January 1, 2017 to October 31, 2020, Srini Gopalan was a member of the Board of Management of Deutsche Telekom AG responsible for the Europe segment. During this time, he has driven growth, digital transformation and initiated the 5G expansion.
Previously, Gopalan was responsible for Bharti Airtel's retail banking business in India. In addition to mobile phone offers, the product range also includes broadband connections and satellite TV. His main focus was to position Airtel in an otherwise very price-sensitive market through innovative offerings. Prior to joining Bharti Airtel, Srini Gopalan worked in the UK for over ten years, initially in various roles for Capital One, which he left as Managing Director UK in 2009. He then joined T-Mobile UK as Chief Marketing Officer and was part of the management team that transformed T-Mobile UK into the joint venture with Orange, everything-everywhere. He then moved to Vodafone UK for three years as Director Consumer Business Unit.
Srini Gopalan studied business administration at the renowned St. Stephen's College in New Delhi and later completed his MBA at IIM Ahmedabad, India's leading business school.
CV Rodrigo Diehl
Rodrigo Diehl is a German with Argentine roots and can look back on a professional career of more than 20 years in the telecommunications and technology industry. He has been CEO of Magenta Telekom, Deutsche Telekom's Austrian subsidiary, since October 2022. Previously, he was responsible for Deutsche Telekom's European private customer business. Before joining Deutsche Telekom, he worked for five years for the telecommunications company Millicom, based in Miami. As Executive Vice President, he was responsible for day-to-day business and strategy (Chief Strategy Officer). The company operates mobile and fixed networks in nine Latin American countries and has over 46 million customers. Before joining Deutsche Telekom, he was CEO of Millicom's national company in Panama for two and a half years. Prior to that, he worked for many years as a partner in the telecommunications, media and technology division of the management consultancy McKinsey. He worked for the management consultancy for 13 years, including a long time in Germany. Diehl graduated with honors in business administration from the University of Buenos Aires and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.
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