- Chvátal decided not to renew his contract as Managing Director after two periods
- Former Austrian Airlines executive Bierwirth will take over September 1, 2012
- Chvátal will remain in consulting position to guarantee smooth transition
Robert Chvátal has decided for personal reasons not to renew his contract as Managing Director (MD) of T-Mobile Austria after serving two consecutive periods. He will be succeeded by former Austrian Airlines executive Andreas Bierwirth. Mr. Chvátal will officially hand over responsibilities as MD effective September 1, 2012. To ensure a smooth transition he will consult with T-Mobile Austria and work closely with Mr. Bierwirth until the end of October, 2012. Mr. Chvátal, 43, has been with Deutsche Telekom since 1997. As chief marketing officer in the Czech Republic as well as CEO in Slovakia since 2002 he successfully launched the T-Mobile brand in these two markets. He became Managing Director of T-Mobile Austria in 2007 where he shaped a dual brand strategy, with T-Mobile as international innovator and main challenger of the incumbent, and tele.ring as the leading no-frills brand in the Austrian market. In the business segment T-Mobile established itself as a viable alternative to the market leader. "I have spent many exciting and challenging years with T-Mobile in multiple countries. At this time I want to put my family first: We have decided to make our home town Prague again the center of our life while my oldest daughter will enter school", said Mr. Chvátal on his decision. "I would like to thank Robert for his valuable contribution to the development of T-Mobile in several countries. For the success of Deutsche Telekom international experience is a key factor", said Claudia Nemat, Deutsche Telekom board member responsible for Europe and Technology. "Andreas Bierwirth is an outstanding executive with long time experience in highly competitive and highly regulated markets who will strengthen my team", Ms. Nemat said about the choice of Mr. Bierwirth as successor. Mr. Bierwirth, 41, who has been trained as banker and economist, started his professional career as Deputy Managing Director of Eurowings airlines, which he repositioned under the new brand Germanwings as low cost carrier of Lufthansa. After two years as MD of Germanwings he spent two years as Vice President Marketing of Lufthansa before being appointed Chief Commercial Officer of Austrian Airlines in 2008. In addition he was named Chief Financial Officer in 2009. His responsibilities included marketing, privatization and restructuring of the airline as it became part of the Lufthansa group. Mr. Bierwirth, who is licensed as a commercial pilot, has three sons and lives with his partner in Schwechat.
T-Mobile Austria has 4,060 million customers and is the second biggest mobile operator in Austria. The company is known for driving innovation in the Telco Business. Both brands "T-Mobile" and "tele.ring" address two different target groups: T-Mobile lives by the slogan "Life is for sharing" and offers innovation in regards to smartphones, services - and applications. The brand tele.ring is the successful “value for price”-leader on the Austrian telecommunication market. In 2011 T-Mobile invested over € 100 million in the network with a specific focus on the roll out of HSPA+ and the next generation mobile network LTE. T-Mobile Austria has 1.400 employees. In 2011 the company was awarded as one of the most attractive employers in Austria from Aon Hewitt. T-Mobile's headquarter the T-Center is based in Vienna on the Rennweg near the "Südost-Tangente". Next to 48 T-Mobile shops T-Mobile also has sales offices in Salzburg, Innsbruck, Graz and Klagenfurt. T-Mobile Austria is a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom AG and hence, belongs to one of the world's leading companies in telecommunications. The company’s international outlook allows T-Mobile customers to benefit from a wide range of products and services, both at home and abroad.