Telefonica has set up a digital services unit combining areas such as e-health, cloud and M2M.
The unit, called Telefonica Digital, will have around 2500 employees and be based in London; the company already runs the O2 mobile phone network in the UK.
The London office will coordinate regional offices in Madrid, Sao Paulo, Silicon Valley and parts of Asia.
The plan is to split the company into regional hubs – Europe and Latin America. The European unit will be headed by José María Álvarez-Pallete, previously in charge of Latin American. He will be succeeded in Latin America by Santiago Fernández Valbuena, the firm’s general manager of strategy, finance and corporate development.
A global resources unit has also been created headed by Guillermo Ansaldo, previously head of Telefónica Spain.
Telefonica Digital will be headed by Matthew Key, previously in charge of the O2 properties. The unit will focus on developing the firm’s video and entertainment, advertising, e-health, financial services, cloud and M2M sectors.
The unit will also run the Jajah VoIP service, Tuenti Spanish social network and Terra, a Latin American internet broadcaster.
