As of 1 July, Tomáš Budník will serve as the new CEO of O2. The news was announced today by PPF, the majority shareholder of telecommunications operator O2. Tomáš Budník replaces Luis Malvido, who served as CEO for five years; Luis Malvido remains in his post as Chairman of the Board.

"I have discovered highly creative and capable people during my time at O2. These are people who can join me in initiating future changes; they are people whom I trust to undertake work that will lead to ever greater customer satisfaction. Firstly, I would like to focus on making our portfolio more decipherable - on services that our customers genuinely rely upon and utilise. Naturally, company profitability will also be a key focus," said Tomáš Budník, CEO of O2, adding: "The steps I take will not lead to mere short-term improvements, I am rather seeking changes that will enable O2 to maintain its position as market leader for many years to come."

Tomáš Budník graduated from the VŠB-Technical University of Ostrava. He has spent more than 20 years in the field of telecommunications, including periods at INEC, Český Telecom and GTS, where he occupied various management posts in the realms of sales, marketing, customer care and oversight. His last position at GTS saw him take responsibility for the planning, construction, development and operation of telecommunications networks as well as customer service. Subsequently, as CEO, he partook in restructuring efforts at MobilKom, the provider of the U:fon network. In 2011, he joined PPF, where he initially served as IT Manager at the Eldorado subsidiary company. In 2013, he led a PPF project to create a fourth major mobile phone operator in the Czech Republic. Since April 2014, he has served at O2 in the post of Director of the IT & Demand Management division.

Contacts
Hany Farghali

hany.farghali@o2.cz
tel: 800 163 342 (800 1 media)

About Telefónica Czech Republic

O2 is the largest integrated telecommunications provider in the Czech market. At present we operate close to eight million mobile and fixed accesses, which ranks us among the market leaders in fully converged services in Europe. To users of mobile services in the Czech Republic we offer state-of-the-art HSPA+ and LTE technology. We have the most comprehensive proposition of voice and data services in the Czech Republic, and we actively exploit the growth potential of the various business lines, especially ICT. Our data centres, with total floor area of 7,300 square metres, rank us among the leaders in hosting, cloud and managed services. O2 data centres are the only ones in the Czech Republic and in Central Europe to have TIER III certification. With our O2 TV we are also the largest IPTV service provider in the Czech Republic. In January 2014, O2 became a member of the Czech investment group PPF.

PPF Group invests into multiple market segments such as banking and financial services, insurance, real estate, energy, metal mining, agriculture, retail and biotechnology. PPF's reach spans from Central and Eastern Europe to Russia and across Asia. PPF Group owns assets of EUR 22.113 billion (as at 30 June 2013).

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