CEO Thorsten Dirks to leave Deutsche Glasfaser

Thorsten Dirks will step down as CEO and leave Deutsche Glasfaser, while Andreas Pfisterer, currently CEO of TDC Denmark, will become the new CEO of the German fibre network operator on December 1, 2022 at the latest.

Dirks, who will assist the transition until his departure on December 31, 2022, had taken over the CEO post from Uwe Nickl in January 2021. In a statement, Deutsche Glasfaser emphasised that the move had been “planned for some time” and would take place following the “achievement of significant milestones”.

Pfisterer most recently worked at TDC in Denmark, where he was CEO for the past five years, spinning off mobile and broadband provider TDC NET from TDC Group and leading it as an ‘open access’ provider for FTTx and HFC. Previously, he worked at Sunrise in Switzerland and O2/Telefónica in Germany, among others.

“Thorsten Dirks, together with the management, has focused Deutsche Glasfaser on scaling. Today, the group is the market leader in rural and suburban areas and has a strong reputation and a clear strategy for further growth. As a representative of the shareholders EQT and OMERS, I would like to sincerely thank Thorsten Dirks for this,” said Walter Schmidt, Chairman of the Board of Deutsche Glasfaser.

“I am very pleased that we have won Andreas Pfisterer as the new CEO for Deutsche Glasfaser. With him, we will continue the path taken by Thorsten Dirks. The high demand for fibre has received a strong boost with the Corona pandemic. Politicians have declared their intention to create the necessary framework to accelerate the expansion of the German fibre optic network. We want to and will do our part and continue to grow massively,” added Schmidt.

Dirks said: “My goal was to successfully kick off the second growth phase of Deutsche Glasfaser and position the company as the market-leading fibre optic provider for rural and suburban areas. We achieved this as a team and thanks to the high level of commitment of all colleagues. I was very happy to make my contribution during an important phase for the company. Now I am delighted to hand over the reins of the company to an esteemed colleague and excellent connoisseur of the industry, as planned for some time.”

Pfisterer said: “I am very much looking forward to my new role as CEO of Deutsche Glasfaser and to working with a great team. Deutsche Glasfaser is ideally positioned to achieve the ambitious broadband rollout targets in Germany and thus make a major contribution to the all-important digitisation of our country.” BroadBandTVNews