• Guillaume Boutin has been the CEO of Belgian national operator Proximus for more than five years
• He recently formulated a new strategy for Proximus with a significant focus on international growth
• But now Boutin is joining Vodafone Group as its new head of investments and strategy

Vodafone Group has hired Guillaume Boutin, currently the CEO at Belgium’s national operator Proximus Group, as its new head of investments and strategy, starting in May: He will replace Serpil Timuray, who is leaving Vodafone in June after 15 years at the operator, the operator announced late last Friday. 

In his new role, Boutin will be responsible for Vodafone’s “non-controlled investments in telecoms operators, infrastructure assets and sector innovators” and will run the company’s Partner Markets division, which provides services to other telecom operators in 45 countries. 

“I’m excited to be joining Vodafone at such an important time in the Group’s transformation. I see significant opportunities to create value through its investments in operators, infrastructure and innovation, and to further enhance the support Vodafone provides to telecoms operators around the world,” noted Boutin. 

He added in this LinkedIn post: To all the Proximus community, I’m immensely proud of what we’ve achieved together. We’ve laid strong foundations for the future through our investments in IT and network infrastructures, and our international diversification. Leaving Proximus wasn’t an easy decision, especially in a time of dynamic changes. However, I’m confident that the talented and dedicated teams at Proximus will continue to drive success and innovation.” 

Vodafone Group CEO Margherita Della Valle, added: “I am delighted that Guillaume is joining us to lead Vodafone investments and strategy for the group. He has a strong mix of strategic, operational and leadership experience, combined with deep-rooted sector knowledge. I also want to thank Serpil for her tireless commitment and significant contribution to Vodafone over the last 15 years.”

In its announcement about the imminent departure of Boutin, who has been CEO since December 2019, Proximus noted that it “regrets to see Guillaume Boutin leaving but is grateful for his outstanding contribution to the growth of Proximus.”

The Belgian operator, which has now started the search for Boutin’s successor, noted in this announcement: “During his CEO mandate, Guillaume initiated a major acceleration in the fibre and 5G rollout in Belgium and paved the way to collaboration agreements with peers to limit the duplication of fibre networks. In an atmosphere of constructive collaboration with the social partners, he steered the company, executing the bold2025 strategy, a strong strategy creating both domestic growth and opening the company to international expansion.” 

Those international expansion plans revolve around the recently formed Proximus Global, a revamped subsidiary – valued by the telco at €3.1bn – that brings together BICS (connectivity services), Telesign (digital identity) and Route Mobile, the communications platform-as-a-service (CPaaS) specialist in which Proximus acquired an 82.7% stake in May 2024. That subsidiary, in which Proximus holds a 91.3% stake, aims to take advantage of the growing demand from enterprises for secure connectivity and digital communications via cloud-based platforms. Boutin is currently the CEO of Proximus Global as well as the Proximus Group. 

Proximus is set to announce its fourth-quarter and full year 2024 results on 28 February, when Boutin will no doubt  face questions about the operator’s succession plan. 

Then in mid-May, he joins an international operator that has undergone a great deal of change itself during the past couple of years and which is currently focused on reversing its fortunes in its biggest single market, Germany – see German woes weigh heavy on Vodafone.

- Ray Le Maistre, Editorial Director, TelecomTV