Telekom Austria said CTO Günther Ottendorfer has ceased to be a member of the group's management board, and also said it is bringing in Alejandro Plater as the group's new COO with immediate effect.
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Alejandro Plater, Telekom Austria COO |
No reasons were provided for Ottendorfer's departure from the boardx, with Austrian publication Industrie Magazin noting that he still had 18 months of his contract left to run. Reuters had suggested last week that Ottendorfer would leave Telekom Austria as a result of Plater's arrival, but it's not clear if he chose to leave or was ousted from the board.
A Telekom Austria spokesman confirmed that Ottendorfer would leave the company at the end of March.
The news came on the final day of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, where Ottendorfer maintained a high profile--welcoming the publication of the Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN) Alliance's "5G White Paper" and also highlighting the operator's virtualisation strategy that includes making network functions virtualisation (NFV) a priority and moving towards a cloud-based, software-centric, all-IP network.
Plater will report to CEO Hannes Ametsreiter and will be responsible for the daily operation in technology as well as market areas and purchasing, the operator said.
Carlos Moreno, vice-chairman of the supervisory board and CFO of Telekom Austria's majority shareholder América Móvil, said he is convinced the current management team would lead Telekom Austria Group into a prosperous future.
"Alejandro Plater is an excellent manager, who has been working very closely with us in Mexico. I would like to thank Günther Ottendorfer for his work and wish him all the best for the future," said Moreno.
Rudolf Kemler, chairman of the supervisory board and also chairman of minority shareholder ÖIAG, stressed Ottendorfer's role in strengthening the position of Telekom Austria Group "as an innovation leader in the communications industry."
Plater has been appointed for a three-year term with the option to extend it by another two years. He previously held various positions at Ericsson since 1997, most recently as sales director for Mexico and then vice-president and key account manager for major customers.
For more:
- see this Telekom Austria release
- see this Industrie Magazin article (in German)
- see this Reuters article
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