Deutsche Telekom AG CEO René Obermann will step down at the end of next year, the company announced Thursday.

Obermann requested that the massive German operator terminate his employment contract and appointment as CEO effective Dec. 31, 2013, and the company's board granted the request in a meeting earlier Thursday. CFO Timotheus Höttges will succeed Obermann as CEO in 2014.

Obermann is planning to take on take on more entrepreneurial activities after he steps down.

Why this matters
Obermann, 49, has spent 16 years at DT, with seven years as the head of the company. In the past few years, however, he has presided over the failed merger between AT&T Inc. and DT subsidiary T-Mobile USA and a long, slow fall-off in DT's share price.

For more

— Dan Jones, Site Editor, Light Reading Mobile