No wonder Deutsche Telekom’s two biggest shareholders want the German telecoms giant to figure out what it’s going to do with T-Mobile UK. Deutsche Telekom (NYSE: DT) reported a first quarter loss of €1.12 billion (£991 million), compared to profit of €924 million (£817 million) a year earlier, after writing down €1.8 billion (£1.59 billion) on its struggling British operations, one its biggest mobile units. Revenues, meanwhile, plunged 21 percent to €836 million (£739 million), as customer defected to other operators. As of the end of March, T-Mobile UK had 16.675 million customers.

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In its earnings presentation, Deutsche Telekom outlined its “action plan” for the unit, which includes overhauling the management. In a separate announcement today, it reported that it has appointed Richard Moat, former CEO of Orange Romania, as its new managing director. Moat, a Briton, who steps into the job in June, replaces American Jim Hyde, who left the company in March for “personal reasons.” Moat was at France Telecom’s Orange Group. Aside from his five year stint in Romania, he has been CEO of Orange Denmark and Orange Thailand.

T-Mobile UK is also embarking on a cost cutting program, which includes a salary freeze, a reduction in marketing budget, and new investments. It plans to concentrate more heavily on Sim-only tariffs and cross-selling mobile broadband services to customers.

More on Deutsche Telekom earnings at mocoNews.net.

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