Vodafone Group has made a series of changes to its senior management and organisational structure, the first major move by new CEO, Vittorio Colao. With effect from October 1, Colao’s previous position as CEO of Vodafone Europe is to be filled by Michel Combes, currently Chairman and CEO of TDF Group, the private-equity backed French operator of shared facilities and terrestrial networks in Europe, and a former France Telecom executive. The group also announced that its EMAPA (Eastern Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia-Pacific and Affiliates) division will be reorganised into two regions with effect from January 1 next year: Central Europe/Africa and Asia-Pacific. The two regional CEOs will be announced in due course, the company said, while the current EMAPA CEO, Paul Donovan, will step down on January 1 2009. The reorganisation means that Vodafone’s stake in US mobile operator Verizon Wireless will not be part of any operating region and will be managed directly by Colao and his senior team. In another personnel shift, Group HR Director Terry Kramer will become the Group Strategy and Business Improvement Director with immediate effect. He will be responsible for strategy development, for the initiatives aimed at productivity and efficiency gains across the group and the governance and coordination of the relationship with Verizon Wireless. He will continue as Group HR Director until a successor is found.

In other Vodafone news, Financial Times reports this morning that the group has been successful in blocking the sales of shares in India’s BPL Mobile Communications and its subsidiary Loop Telecom, both part of the Vodafone-controlled Essar group. The report claims that operators such as Norway’s Telenor had been interested in acquiring Loop, which is valued at around US$2.5 billion and holds 21 mobile licenses in India.