Telefónica España will create a Hardware and Devices Directorate within B2C on 1 October 2026, giving its device business a dedicated structure. Alberto Ruano will lead it after leaving his role as Lenovo's general manager for Spain and Portugal. The company said the change will bring its device business under one structure.
The new directorate will oversee the business from end to end. Its remit will include the product portfolio, negotiations with manufacturers, offer design, commercial strategy, sales, logistics, procurement, supply chain management and financial oversight. Ruano will report to Óscar Candiles, Telefónica España's Chief Revenue Officer, and join the company's Management Committee.
The numbers help explain the change.
Device sales rose 10% in the first nine months of the year compared with the same period of 2025. Telefónica España sold 900,000 devices between January and August. That growth has prompted the company to give the business its own structure and pursue a larger role for it across the group. Demócrata, Cinco Días and Expansión all reported the same appointment and organisational change. Their reports describe a move to bring Telefónica's device activities together instead of building a narrow handset unit.
Movistar is also selling more than mobile phones. Its catalogue now includes 800 device references, covering smartphones, tablets, smartwatches and televisions, along with home entertainment equipment, game consoles, laptops, activity bracelets and small and large appliances. The company says 42% of the devices sold so far this year came from categories other than smartphones, six percentage points more than a year earlier.
Several of these categories are growing faster than the basic handset business. Smartwatch unit sales rose 29%. Tablet sales also increased 29%, televisions grew 26% and small and large appliances advanced 28%. Borja Ochoa, president of Telefónica España, said customers are increasingly turning to Movistar for technology across the home, not just a mobile phone.
The way customers pay for and replace devices is changing too. Movistar Swap launched in September 2025. It lets customers use a device for a monthly fee, then choose whether to exchange it for the latest model or keep the one they have. The choice becomes available from month 24 for smartphones and from month 36 for some laptops and tablets. Movistar collects the old equipment, provides the replacement and checks the returned device for refurbishment or recycling. Cinco Días and Expansión have named Movistar Swap as one factor behind the wider device strategy.
The service gives Telefónica a role beyond the first sale. Financing, replacement, logistics and returned-equipment handling sit within the same offer. The new directorate will bring those activities under one management line.
The appointment also brings in an executive with direct hardware experience. Ruano has described his task as using Telefónica's daily relationship with millions of households and companies to make technology available through the right product and conditions. The earlier takeover report concerns a different sector. Telefónica's decision is more direct: devices are no longer being treated as a secondary retail category.
Movistar customers are buying a wider range of products, and Telefónica is reorganising around that shift. Non-smartphone products already account for 42% of sales, while the catalogue has reached 800 references. The new directorate will show whether that wider range can turn current sales growth into a lasting part of Telefónica's consumer business.
