The 46-year-old was earmarked as Arun Sarin’s successor when he rejoined the business as deputy chief executive in 2006 after a two-year stint as chief executive of Italian media group RCS.

“I have supervised Vittorio in one way or another for the past 10 years,” said Sarin. “He has that agility of mind you need as chief executive.”

Insiders say he is open-minded and will listen to everyone before making a decision. “Then he decides very quickly,” said one.

Colao is a reserve officer in the Italian military police, the Carabinieri, a role in which he had “learned a lot about life”.

He has been running Vodafone’s European businesses and will drive the company’s move into internet and media where it will compete with Nokia and Google.