Ledesma has held the position of CFO of Telxius since 2016 and succeeds Mario Martín, who was recently appointed as head of Telefónica’s office in the United Kingdom.

Ledesma has over 30 years of experience in the field, beginning his career at J.P Morgan, having joined Telefónica in 2002 in the role of director of corporate development and as head of the CEO office of Telefónica Europe, among other roles since.

Telxius, a telecommunications infrastructure company founded in 2016, is owned by Telefónica (70%) and Pontegadea (30%).

The news comes as the telecoms giant committed to executing its strategic plan in Europe by launching a UK office. Based in London, the new office will report directly to Emilio Gayo, chief operating officer (COO) at Telefónica.

Telefónica’s new UK office will also aim to support the execution of the strategic priorities laid out in transform & grow, promote a more integrated operational management of the Group’s UK assets and boost coordination with the group’s areas and business units that support our UK operations.

“By opening up this UK office, we emphasise our commitment to Europe and to a disciplined execution of our Strategic Plan,” said Gayo. “The UK is a strategic market for our group and we aim to have a structure there that allows us to stay closer to business, support value creation and ensure management decisions are aligned with our industrial and financial priorities.”