The supervisory board of Vodafone Germany has confirmed Hannes Ametsreiter will continue as CEO for another three years, even though his current term had yet to end.
In a statement (translated), Chairman of the Supervisory Board Frank Rövekamp, said, “Hannes Ametsreiter (pictured) has led Vodafone Germany to new heights in the past four and a half years, with a clear growth strategy, innovation-based vision, strategic acquisitions and a strong focus on digital transformation.
“Our company is in better shape today than ever before. By extending his mandate today, we are honouring his merits, and at the same time ensuring that this success story continues.”
CEO’s achievements
Ametsreiter became CEO of Vodafone Germany in October 2015, and with today’s announcement will enter his third term in the role, which will run until September 2024. During his tenure, Vodafone increased its total sales by €870 million and increased its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation from 32% to 42%.
The number of SIM cards on the Vodafone network rose by 9.1 million to 50.7 million. Ametsreiter introduced the concept of Vodafone as a gigabit company and a key part of a gigabit society, underpinned by fixed and mobile connections at gigabit speeds.
In 2016, Vodafone was the first to abolish roaming charges in Europe.
The gigabit offensive started in 2017 with Ametsreiter overseeing the modernisation of Vodafone’s cable network and establishing the company as a fibre optic player in municipalities and commercial areas.
In 2018, Vodafone initiated the gigabit turnaround, with the start of the first large-scale expansion of a gigabit network in Germany.
In 2019, Vodafone was the first provider to bring 5G to Germany and the multi-billion dollar merger with Unitymedia saw the company complete the largest telco takeover since Vodafone acquired Mannesmann back in 2000 (read our exclusive interview with CTO Gerhard Mack about his task integrating the infrastructure.
Continuing the strategy
Ametsreiter commented, “I am very pleased that the Vodafone Supervisory Board has once again placed its trust in our management course. Together with all 16,000 Vodafone employees, we would like to continue [that course] in the coming years.
“To achieve this, we are pursuing three major goals. We want to further advance the gigabit society in Germany. We want to focus even more on what helps people and companies. And we want to push ahead with the integration of Unitymedia, position ourselves even more strongly as a digital group, and leverage important synergies for our business.”