Vodafone welcomes back old friend

Vodafone have appointed Vittorio Colao as its new Chief Executive for Europe.

Colao only left Vodafone two years ago to become Chief Executive of RCS MediaGroup, the Italian publishing and media company, after working as Chief Executive of Vodafone Italy and, subsequently, having responsibility for operations in Southern Europe. He will start on 9 October.

Mr Colao’s experience gained at RCS can only help Vodafone who are one of the few remaining mobile-only companies and need to broaden their revenue sources if they are going to compete with the quad-play operators existing in many of their markets.

Alternatively Mr Colao might decide that his arrival is a good time to reverse that strategy, making a wireless or wired play for additional communications services.