Telefónica's revenues from non-traditional business lines could be around €5bn (£4bn) by 2013, according to management consultant Arthur D Little. Not insignificant, even for a company bringing in €62bn a year.

There will be new products and services in seven areas: financial services, healthcare, advertising, media, security, cloud computing, and mobile internet connections in cars and utility meters (also known as machine-to-machine connections).

There are half a dozen existing companies under his stewardship, including Latin American internet TV company Terra, which will be broadcasting dozens of Olympic channels this summer; a satellite broadcaster headquartered in Peru but operating across the region; Spanish social network Tuenti; and the UK discount mobile brand giffgaff, whose online helpdesk is run by its own customers.

And then there is the search for the next Instagram – the photo-sharing service launched 15 months ago which has just been bought for $1bn by Facebook. Telefónica's technology incubator, Wayra, is a year old but already has bases around the world, including London, where up to 20 startups will be given office space and access to Telefónica's technology – and, ultimately, its 300 million customers worldwide.

Wayra, the hot new startup incubator founded by telecom giant Telefónica, recently opened a call for projects in Germany, where chief competitor Deutsche Telekom has just opened its own startup accelerator hub:raum in Berlin.

Interested German startups can sign up now, until 8 July 2012, and the best 10 startups will then move into the Wayra academy in Munich next September.