New Telefónica CEO Marc Murtra: lean the company, invest in Europe, accelerate in Germany
A few months into the job, Marc Murtra speaks about the strategy shift at Telefónica – and floats a radical idea: Europe should consolidate down to just three big telcos, like the US.
Where is Telefónica heading? Together with my colleague Sandra Louven I took a look behind the scenes at the once-mighty telecoms giant. In Madrid, Sandra met new CEO Marc Murtra – without the PR show. A company in transition, under pressure on multiple fronts at once.
What it’s about
It’s an unusual scene: a CEO of one of Europe’s largest telecoms companies invites you in for a conversation – and sends his press office out of the room. Marc Murtra has run Telefónica since January 2025 and presents himself as an antithesis to the classic corporate boss. 52 years old, unorthodox, direct. He wants to slim down the company, invest in Europe and accelerate in Germany. In his first interview with a German outlet, he delivers a clear statement. The question is whether he can follow through.
The starting point
Telefónica is bruised. The glorious years of the late 1990s, with spectacular acquisitions in Latin America and the purchase of the O2 brand, are over. The quarterly numbers are sobering, the debt is high, Latin America is weakening – outside of Brazil, the company plans to retreat. On top of that, Telefónica is losing 1&1 as a major customer in Germany; around 12 million customers are switching to Vodafone. The market value sits at around €25 billion. At the same time, Telefónica is the parent of Germany’s third-largest network operator and therefore present in a crucial European market.
What Murtra wants to do differently
Three lines emerge. First: slimming down – less bureaucracy, clearer structures, focus on the core business. Second: European investment, especially in fibre. Murtra wants to move away from the Latin America heritage and lean more into the home market. Third: speed in Germany. Telefónica is currently losing major customers and revenue there because the fibre rollout is lagging behind competitors. Murtra’s mortgage: his predecessor was pushed out under pressure from the Spanish government, and his appointment was politically backed.
The consolidation question
The most striking number comes on the side. Murtra floats an idea that would fundamentally reshape the market: Europe, in his view, should be dominated by only three big telcos – much like the US. That would be radical consolidation. For competition, prices and innovation, the consequences would be massive. Whether he gets a hearing in Brussels and Berlin is open. But his pitch shows that even in the Spanish telecoms environment, patience with the German pace has finally run out.
I wrote the full story together with Sandra Louven for Handelsblatt. This is a first impression.