Supervisory Board of Telefónica Deutschland Holding AG appoints Santiago Argelich Hesse as new CEO

The Supervisory Board of Telefónica Deutschland Holding AG at today’s meeting appointed Santiago Argelich Hesse to the Management Board of the telecommunications company, effective January 1, 2026. Santiago Argelich Hesse is scheduled to start as the company's new Chief Executive Officer on January 1, 2026. He takes over the role of CEO from Markus Haas, who has come to a mutual agreement with the Supervisory Board on the early termination of his contract and will leave the company at the end of December 2025. Until then, Markus Haas will lead the company as CEO and ensure a smooth transition at the top of Telefónica Deutschland. "I am delighted that we have been able to win Santiago Argelich Hesse as the new CEO of Telefónica Deutschland. Santiago Argelich Hesse has extensive expertise in the telecommunications and digital industry as well as in leading companies in change processes. This expertise is essential for Telefónica Deutschland's further transformation and growth strategy," says Peter Löscher, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Telefónica Deutschland Holding AG. Peter Löscher added: "I would like to thank Markus Haas for his extraordinary commitment to Telefónica Deutschland. During his nine years as CEO, he has developed the company into one of the largest in the industry and significantly increased network quality and customer satisfaction." "It is an honour for me to lead Telefónica Deutschland into the future as CEO. In recent years, the team at Telefónica Deutschland has achieved great things, and managed to connect the most people in Germany with mobile communications and provide a very good network for the population and companies in the country through a high degree of commitment and passion. This is an excellent basis for taking the next steps of growth and transformation with the team and for further developing customer satisfaction and competitiveness. I would like to thank the Supervisory Board for their trust in me to take over the leadership of the company on this path forward," says Santiago Argelich Hesse. "With the ongoing Strategic Plan 2025, it is time for me to take on a new challenge at the end of December and leave the company after almost 30 years. I would like to thank the Supervisory Board, the shareholders, the employees and our customers for the trust they have placed in me, especially over the past nine years in which I have lead the company as CEO," says Markus Haas. Santiago Argelich Hesse has worked for the multi-national telecommunications company Cellnex for the past seven years, the last four and a half years as CEO of the national company Cellnex Poland. He has strategically developed the Polish telecommunications infrastructure provider and driven the company to grow from its own strength as well as through acquisitions. Cellnex Poland now has a market share of more than 50 percent of the telecommunications infrastructure business in the country. Prior to his work at Cellnex, Santiago Argelich Hesse worked for various globally active companies in the telecommunications and digital industry in various countries. The trained engineer studied at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia in Barcelona. These management changes set the course for Telefónica Deutschland's further transformation and growth strategy to strengthen the company's future viability and enable it to continue to actively shape the telecommunications market.