• e& CEO steps down after record results
• Telefónica makes bumper payout to former CEO
• Deutsche Telekom unveils multiple AI advances

In today’s industry news roundup: Hatem Dowidar is stepping down after six years as CEO at e&; Telefónica’s former CEO, José María Álvarez-Pallete, had a lucrative 2025; Deutsche Telekom cements its role as one of the leading AI-native telcos; and much more!

Hatem Dowidar is stepping down as CEO of international digital networks and services group e& on 31 March after six years in the role and will be replaced by Masood M. Sharif Mahmood, who has been serving as chief executive officer of e& UAE since 2021 and will continue in that role as well as taking on the group CEO role from 1 April. Dowidar stated in this announcement: “It has been an honour to lead e& during a defining chapter in its history. I am proud of what we have accomplished together, transforming our business, expanding internationally and building new growth engines for the future.” Mahmood, who has 25 years of experience in the communications, investment and tech sectors, thanked Dowider for his leadership, expressed his gratitude for being given the “opportunity to lead this ambitious global company,” and said he looks forward to “building on our shared achievements with our talented teams, OpCos and partners worldwide”.

The news came as Abu Dhabi, UAE-based e& reported a 23.1% increase in full year group revenues to 72.9bn dirham ($19.85bn) and a 21.1% increase in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to 32bn dirham ($8.7bn). e& ended 2025 with 244.7 million subscribers across its international operations (including those of Telenor Pakistan, which is now part of e&-controlled PTCL), representing an increase of 31.3% compared with the end of 2024, while its domestic telco, e& UAE, ended last year with 16.3 million subscribers, up by 8.4%.  

While Dowider is still a CEO for a few more weeks yet, today brings news of a former telco chief who, in a surprise move, was ousted from his role just over a year ago. In January 2025, Telefónica’s board forced out chairman and CEO José María Álvarez-Pallete and replaced him with Marc Murtra, who went on to develop and announce a new cost-saving corporate strategy. Álvarez-Pallete may have been out of a job, but OKDiario reports that he received total compensation in 2025 of €44.51m, of which €23.5m was a severance payment. Nice work if you can get it!

Deutsche Telekom is hell bent on covering multiple AI angles before MWC26, it seems, as the giant telco has made a number of announcements about its AI deployments, developments and partnerships. TelecomTV has delved into its latest agentic AI development with Google Cloud in this article, but DT has also unveiled CoMind, a “modular conversational AI platform with chat and voice bots that act as digital colleagues” that is “designed for dialog-oriented customer communication based on company knowledge and data.” The operator has also struck a partnership with one of the world’s leading providers of AI-powered customer communications solutions, Parloa, to offer that company’s AI Agent Management Platform in combination with DT’s services. 

iBasis is set to conclude its deal to buy the international wholesale voice, IPX and messaging business of Australian operator Telstra. The acquisition – first announced in September 2025 – transfers Telstra International’s wholesale customer base and operations to iBasis, significantly expanding its footprint across Asia-Pacific. France-based iBasis, which already claims to provide its services to more than 1,000 customers across 28 markets, said it will begin the first phase of migrating Telstra’s customer base later this week.

– The staff, TelecomTV