T-Mobile loses marketing chief

The head of marketing for T-Mobile, Deutsche Telekom's mobile phone operator, will leave his job at the end of the year as the unit changes its marketing strategy, a Reuters report said.

The report, quoting a statement from T-Mobile, said company CEO Rene Obermann would be responsible for "important marketing functions" and that head of marketing Ulli Gritzuhn was leaving the company at his own wish.

"In the last two years, we have made great progress in the strategy for the brand and the development of the brand under the leadership of Ulli Gritzuhn," Obermann said in a statement.

The change at T-Mobile, a key growth engine for Deutsche Telekom, followed the group slashing sales and earnings forecasts for 2006 and 2007 last month, and second-quarter results that showed the group was no longer growing in its German home market, the Reuters report said.

Earlier this month, Deutsche Telekom's supervisory board backed a reshuffle of managerial tasks among the group's top managers, which left Obermann in charge of points of sales for Deutsche Telekom in Germany, its biggest market, the report further said.