Less than two years after his appointment, Philippe Rogge (54) is already stepping down as head of Vodafone Germany. He will be replaced by Marcel de Groot (56), who has been the board member responsible for private customers to date. There is no question that the managers at the top of the British mobile communications group's most important national company lack fortune. This applies above all to Rogge and his unfortunate predecessor Jens Schulte-Bockum, for whom the executive chair became an ejector seat after a short time, but ultimately also to the Austrian Hannes Ametsreiter, who ran the business for seven years.

Ametsreiter, who was always full-bodied in his marketing, created expectations among customers that Vodafone was then unable to fulfill. Rogge, who had worked for many years in various roles at Microsoft and had been met with skepticism by industry observers from the outset due to his lack of experience in today's telecommunications business, took a low-key approach. However, an unfortunate combination of circumstances proved to be his undoing: price increases in the landline network cost the Group subscribers. In mobile telephony, where the number of customers increased again slightly, growth nevertheless lagged behind the competition. Telekom and Telefónica Deutschland in particular took advantage of Vodafone's weakness to gain market share.

While Rogge was seduced by the competitors' narrative that new customers can be attracted primarily by constantly improving the network infrastructure, the appointment of Marcel de Groot may signal a change of heart. As head of private customers, the manager is likely to have already focused more on service and customer loyalty in addition to acquiring new customers. According to insiders, the Group's management team under Margherita Della Valle has undergone a certain rethink with regard to the allocation of investments. Investments are no longer to flow solely into infrastructure, but also increasingly into customer satisfaction, which has proven to be profitable in other markets.

Accordingly, Vodafone emphasizes de Groot's experience as Chief Commercial Officer at Vodafone Ziggo in the Netherlands and as Director of Consumer at Vodafone Ireland. In Düsseldorf, the manager succeeded Andreas Laukenmann in 2022, who had moved to competitor Telefónica Deutschland.

„We will continue to do our homework,“ said de Groot. „At the same time, we will switch to attack,“ the new head of Germany is quoted as saying in the Vodafone press release. The latter will be important for the Group, as the German subsidiary is by far Vodafone's most important asset following the sale of its activities in Spain and Italy and is now gaining significantly in importance.

As Vodafone CFO Luka Mucic made clear in an interview with the Börsen-Zeitung, he considers the investment budget for the German subsidiary to be appropriate. Accordingly, following the transaction in Italy, the distribution in the form of share buybacks is also emphasized. The Group has identified business customers as a new growth area, especially in Germany, an area that is, however, highly competitive and - at least for Deutsche Telekom - rather less enjoyable. De Groot will have to reach for the ceiling.