BONN, Germany-Deutsche Telekom announced it will bundle its cellular phone activities into a new holding company called T-Mobile International AG.
Kai-Uwe Ricke, currently head of Deutsche Telekom’s German wireless operator T-Mobil, will become chairman of the management board of the new company and act as interim managing director of One 2 One, the U.K. wireless operator Deutsche Telekom purchased last year.
Tim Samples, the One 2 One chief who is credited with helping revive the smallest of the four British mobile carriers, is leaving the company at the end of this month.
Deutsche Telekom’s mobile assets include the subsidiaries of T-Mobil, One 2 One and max.mobil GmbH in Austria with a combined subscriber base of 15 million. In addition, the company has joint ventures in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Russia.
“Having bundled all our cell phone subsidiaries into a new holding structure is a logical step in creating a Pan-European mobile telephony carrier that belongs to the world’s leading five operators in mobile communications,” said Ron Sommer, Deutsche Telekom CEO.
Telefonica AS announced a similar move last week, combining its global wireless assets into a new business.
