• Telefónica’s recently appointed new CEO, Marc Murtra, is shaking up his top team
• The head of Telefónica Spain, Emilio Gayo, has been appointed as chief operating officer, replacing Ángel Vilá 
• The Spanish telco also has a new chief digital officer and a new head of Telefónica Tech

With the annual financial results published and with Mobile World Congress in Barcelona winding down, Telefónica, which earlier this year unexpectedly replaced its chairman and CEO, has announced sweeping changes to its top management team. 

In January, the Telefónica board forced out chairman and CEO José María Álvarez-Pallete and replaced him with Marc Murtra, who had been chairman of Spanish defence and tech firm Indra – see Telefónica shareholders overthrow Álvarez-Pallete, appoint new CEO.

Now Murtra has replaced three of the giant Spanish operator’s leading executives. 

A new COO

Emilio Gayo has been promoted from CEO of Telefónica Spain to chief operating officer (COO) of the Telefónica Group and has been appointed as an executive director, giving him a seat on the board. He has been with the operator since 2004 and has been CEO of Telefónica Spain since 2018. 

As COO, Gayo is responsible for all of the telco’s markets – Spain, Brazil, Hispam (seven countries in Latin America), Germany, and the UK (where it holds a 50% stake in Virgin Media O2), as well as the business-to-business (B2B) division Telefónica Tech, Telefónica Infra and CTIO units, “consolidating the management of all geographies under his responsibility,” noted the operator.

Gayo replaces Ángel Vilá, who will continue to be a member of the board of Virgin Media O2 and has also been proposed for a seat on the board of Telefónica Germany. He will also “continue to be linked to the company as an advisor to the executive chairman, Marc Murtra”, noted the operator. 

Gayo has been replaced as CEO of Telefónica Spain by Borja Ochoa, who joins from Indra (where Murta formerly worked) where he was general director of defence and security.

New CEO at Telefónica Tech

Telefónica Tech, the Spanish telco’s digital enterprise services division (cybersecurity, AI, cloud, internet of things, data and analytics), also has a new leader in the form of Sofía Collado, who also joins from Indra, where she was chief human resources officer. 

She replaces José Cerdán, who has been CEO of Telefónica Tech and global head of the B2B segment for the past five years. According to Telefónica, “Cerdán will continue to be linked to the group, accompanying Sofía Collado to focus on the new challenges of this business unit and supporting the company in its announced strategic reflection.” 

New chief digital officer

Sebas Muriel rejoins Telefónica as chief digital officer. Muriel, who for the past three years has been CEO of media investment firm GroupM Spain, is a telecom engineer with “extensive knowledge of Telefónica’s operations and the telecommunications industry”. 

He replaces Chema Alonso, who has led Telefónica’s digital transformation for the past 13 years, and who announced a number of agreements with technology firms related to the telco’s network API strategy during a presentation this week on the Telefónica booth at MWC25 as well as ahead of the giant telecom trade show. 

The Spanish telco, which recently reported full year revenues for 2024 of €41.3bn, up by 1.6% compared with 2023, and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of €13.28bn, up 1.2%, is also about to get a new group CTIO, as after 40 years at the telco, Enrique Blanco is retiring at the end of March to be replaced by Andrea Folgueiras, a long time Telefónica executive. That decision, however, was announced last year and is not related to the changes being implemented by Murta. 

- Ray Le Maistre, Editorial Director, TelecomTV