Karsten WildbergerTechnology · Energy · State
Karsten Wildberger shaking hands with a woman in a blue suit in front of German and British flags and a framed landscape painting
A bilateral meeting in front of the German and British flags.
P.05 / INTERNATIONAL CAREER

Four countries, then the world stage

Around ten years of his corporate career were spent outside Germany. As minister, international digital agreements have become one of his most visible activities.

Based abroad
UK · Romania · Australia
Studied abroad
INSEAD, France
Ministerial partners
FR · CA · IN · UK and others
Corporate period

Abroad as a manager

Positions outside Germany, as documented by employers and official CVs.

International corporate positions
PeriodCountryOrganisationRoleStatus
2000FranceINSEADMBA studiesVerified
2003–2006United KingdomDeutsche Telekom (T-Mobile)Executive Vice President roles (UK and Germany)Verified
2006–2011RomaniaVodafone RomaniaCFO, then CCO and interim CEOVerified
2006–2011United KingdomVodafoneBoard-level role (title not public)Partially documented
2013–2016AustraliaTelstra, MelbourneGMD Consumer, Products; Group Executive, RetailVerified
2016–2021Multi-marketE.ON SEBoard responsibility for customer business across E.ON markets incl. UKVerified
2021–202511 countriesCeconomy / MediaMarktSaturnCEO of a group with more than 1,000 storesVerified
Experience

Romania and Australia

Verified fact

In Romania, Vodafone's local operator was one of the country's major mobile networks. Romanian outlet HotNews described him in 2025 as having been the company's “number two”, first as CFO and then as commercial director for the consumer segment.

In Australia, Telstra was the incumbent national operator. As Group Managing Director, Consumer from January 2013, he ran the company's largest customer-facing division. During his tenure Telstra opened its Discovery Store in Sydney's central business district (October 2014) and launched consumer services including the Telstra Air Wi-Fi network and Telstra TV. Wikipedia attributes these to his leadership; this archive presents them as launches that took place during his tenure.

Analysis

Both markets demanded customer-facing turnaround and modernisation: a fast-growing mobile market in Romania, and an incumbent under competitive and regulatory pressure in Australia during the national broadband network rollout. The UK reappears later: at E.ON, the UK retail turnaround was one of the results credited to him.

Ministerial period

Digital diplomacy, 2025–2026

International agreements and appearances documented by the ministry. Most are single-source official press releases.

  1. 17 Jun 2025PolandGdańskKeynote at the Digital SummitEuropean digital cooperation.
  2. 24 Jul 2025United StatesWashington D.C.Speech at the Atlantic CouncilTransatlantic digital space; Europe as “co-author of the rules”.
  3. 18 Nov 2025France / EUBerlin, EUREF-CampusOpening speech, Summit on European Digital SovereigntyFranco-German taskforce; more than 900 participants.
  4. 9 Dec 2025CanadaBilateralCanada–Germany Digital Alliance launchedBasis for later AI cooperation.
  5. 14 Feb 2026CanadaMunich Security ConferenceJoint Declaration of Intent on AI with Minister Evan Solomon“Sovereign Technology Alliance”.
  6. 18 Feb 2026IndiaNew Delhi, AI Impact SummitAI pact signed with Minister Ashwini VaishnawSix priority areas.
  7. 24 Apr 2026Canada · GermanyBerlinPresent as Cohere's planned acquisition of Aleph Alpha was presentedGerman–Canadian AI consolidation.
  8. 1 Jul 2026United KingdomLondonAI safety cooperation signed with Science Secretary Liz KendallCooperation between AI security institutes.
  9. 17 Sep 2026CanadaMontrealOpening speech, ALL IN conferenceAI ecosystem cooperation.

“Europe must not become a bystander. It must be a co-author of the rules that will define the next digital era.”

Karsten Wildberger · Atlantic Council, Washington D.C., 24 July 2025 (English original, BMDS transcript). In June 2026 Die Zeit reported that this speech had been written largely with AI — see Criticism.
Sources
  1. Telstra ASX announcement, 4 Dec 2015: asx.com.au
  2. HotNews.ro, 7 May 2025: hotnews.ro
  3. WhistleOut, 20 Oct 2014, Telstra Discovery Store: whistleout.com.au
  4. BMDS, Atlantic Council speech: bmds.bund.de
  5. Élysée, Summit on European Digital Sovereignty, 18 Nov 2025: elysee.fr
  6. Government of Canada, Feb 2026: canada.ca
  7. BMDS, Germany–India AI pact: bmds.bund.de
  8. BMDS, Germany–UK AI safety cooperation: bmds.bund.de