diff --git a/.github/workflows/images.yaml b/.github/workflows/images.yaml
index 63a72dd3a..38df87f78 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/images.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/images.yaml
@@ -37,7 +37,6 @@ jobs:
       ext-auth-example-authsvc: ${{ steps.filter.outputs.ext-auth-example-authsvc }}
       nginx: ${{ steps.filter.outputs.nginx }}
       nginx125: ${{ steps.filter.outputs.nginx125 }}
-      opentelemetry: ${{ steps.filter.outputs.opentelemetry }}
 
     steps:
       - name: Checkout
@@ -65,8 +64,6 @@ jobs:
               - 'images/ext-auth-example-authsvc/**'
             nginx:
               - 'images/nginx/**'
-            opentelemetry:
-              - 'images/opentelemetry/**'
             nginx125:
               - 'images/nginx-1.25/TAG'
 
@@ -166,23 +163,6 @@ jobs:
       run: |
         cd images/ && make NAME=kube-webhook-certgen test test-e2e
 
-  opentelemetry:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    env:
-      PLATFORMS: linux/amd64,linux/arm,linux/arm64
-    needs: changes
-    if: |
-      (needs.changes.outputs.opentelemetry == 'true')
-    strategy:
-      matrix:
-        nginx: ['1.25.3', '1.21.6']
-    steps:
-    - name: Checkout
-      uses: actions/checkout@692973e3d937129bcbf40652eb9f2f61becf3332 # v4.1.7
-    - name: image build
-      run: |
-        cd images/opentelemetry && make NGINX_VERSION=${{ matrix.nginx }} build
-
   nginx125:
     permissions:
       contents: write
diff --git a/images/opentelemetry/Makefile b/images/opentelemetry/Makefile
deleted file mode 100644
index eae435bef..000000000
--- a/images/opentelemetry/Makefile
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,69 +0,0 @@
-# Copyright 2024 The Kubernetes Authors. All rights reserved.
-#
-# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-# You may obtain a copy of the License at
-#
-#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-#
-# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-# limitations under the License.
-
-.DEFAULT_GOAL:=build
-
-# set default shell
-SHELL=/bin/bash -o pipefail -o errexit
-
-DIR:=$(strip $(shell dirname $(realpath $(lastword $(MAKEFILE_LIST)))))
-INIT_BUILDX=$(DIR)/../../hack/init-buildx.sh
-
-# 0.0.0 shouldn't clobber any released builds
-SHORT_SHA ?=$(shell git rev-parse --short HEAD)
-TAG ?=v$(shell date +%Y%m%d)-$(SHORT_SHA)
-
-REGISTRY ?= gcr.io/k8s-staging-ingress-nginx
-
-IMAGE = $(REGISTRY)/opentelemetry
-
-# required to enable buildx
-export DOCKER_CLI_EXPERIMENTAL=enabled
-
-# build with buildx
-PLATFORMS?=linux/amd64,linux/arm,linux/arm64
-OUTPUT=
-PROGRESS=plain
-
-precheck:
-ifndef NGINX_VERSION
-	$(error NGINX_VERSION variable is required)
-endif
-
-build: precheck ensure-buildx
-	docker buildx build \
-		--label=org.opencontainers.image.source=https://github.com/kubernetes/ingress-nginx \
-		--label=org.opencontainers.image.licenses=Apache-2.0 \
-		--label=org.opencontainers.image.description="Ingress NGINX Opentelemetry image" \
-		--platform=${PLATFORMS} $(OUTPUT) \
-		--progress=$(PROGRESS) \
-		--build-arg=NGINX_VERSION=$(NGINX_VERSION) \
-		--pull \
-		--tag $(IMAGE)-$(NGINX_VERSION):$(TAG) rootfs
-
-# push the cross built image
-push: OUTPUT=--push
-push: build
-
-# enable buildx
-ensure-buildx:
-# this is required for cloudbuild
-ifeq ("$(wildcard $(INIT_BUILDX))","")
-	@curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kubernetes/ingress-nginx/main/hack/init-buildx.sh | bash
-else
-	@exec $(INIT_BUILDX)
-endif
-	@echo "done"
-
-.PHONY: build precheck push ensure-buildx
diff --git a/images/opentelemetry/TAG b/images/opentelemetry/TAG
deleted file mode 100644
index 0ec25f750..000000000
--- a/images/opentelemetry/TAG
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-v1.0.0
diff --git a/images/opentelemetry/cloudbuild.yaml b/images/opentelemetry/cloudbuild.yaml
deleted file mode 100644
index df86d37e7..000000000
--- a/images/opentelemetry/cloudbuild.yaml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,14 +0,0 @@
-options:
-  # Increase machine type for multi-arch builds.
-  machineType: E2_HIGHCPU_8
-  # Ignore Prow provided substitutions.
-  substitution_option: ALLOW_LOOSE
-steps:
-  - name: gcr.io/k8s-staging-test-infra/gcb-docker-gcloud:v20240523-a15ad90fc9
-    env:
-      - REGISTRY=gcr.io/k8s-staging-ingress-nginx
-    entrypoint: bash
-    args:
-      - -c
-      - gcloud auth configure-docker && cd images/opentelemetry && make NGINX_VERSION=1.21.6 push && make NGINX_VERSION=1.25.3 push
-timeout: 1800s
diff --git a/images/opentelemetry/rootfs/CMakeLists.txt b/images/opentelemetry/rootfs/CMakeLists.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 1c68d6fc6..000000000
--- a/images/opentelemetry/rootfs/CMakeLists.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,74 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-
-# Copyright 2021 The Kubernetes Authors.
-#
-# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-# You may obtain a copy of the License at
-#
-#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-#
-# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-# limitations under the License.
-
-cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.11 FATAL_ERROR)
-
-project(
-  dependencies
-  LANGUAGES CXX
-  VERSION 0.0.1)
-
-set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 17)
-set(CMAKE_CXX_EXTENSIONS OFF)
-set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED ON)
-set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "-O2 -fpic")
-set(CMAKE_VERBOSE_MAKEFILE ON CACHE BOOL "ON" FORCE)
-
-set(CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE
-    Release
-    CACHE STRING "Build type" FORCE)
-
-include(GNUInstallDirs)
-
-set(CMAKE_ARCHIVE_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY
-    ${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/${CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR})
-set(CMAKE_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY
-    ${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/${CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR})
-set(CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY
-    ${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/${CMAKE_INSTALL_BINDIR})
-
-set(INSTALL_LIBDIR
-    ${CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR}
-    CACHE PATH "directory for libraries")
-set(INSTALL_BINDIR
-    ${CMAKE_INSTALL_BINDIR}
-    CACHE PATH "directory for executables")
-set(INSTALL_INCLUDEDIR
-    ${CMAKE_INSTALL_INCLUDEDIR}
-    CACHE PATH "directory for header files")
-
-set(DEF_INSTALL_CMAKEDIR share/cmake/${PROJECT_NAME})
-set(INSTALL_CMAKEDIR
-    ${DEF_INSTALL_CMAKEDIR}
-    CACHE PATH "directory for CMake files")
-
-set_property(DIRECTORY PROPERTY EP_BASE ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/subs)
-
-set(STAGED_INSTALL_PREFIX ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/stage)
-message(STATUS "${PROJECT_NAME} staged install: ${STAGED_INSTALL_PREFIX}")
-
-find_package(OpenSSL REQUIRED)
-message("OpenSSL include dir: ${OPENSSL_INCLUDE_DIR}")
-message("OpenSSL libraries: ${OPENSSL_LIBRARIES}")
-
-find_package(Protobuf REQUIRED)
-find_package(gRPC REQUIRED)
-find_package(OpentelemetryCPP REQUIRED)
-
-install(
-  DIRECTORY ${STAGED_INSTALL_PREFIX}/
-  DESTINATION .
-  USE_SOURCE_PERMISSIONS)
diff --git a/images/opentelemetry/rootfs/Dockerfile b/images/opentelemetry/rootfs/Dockerfile
deleted file mode 100644
index 4b64b96a6..000000000
--- a/images/opentelemetry/rootfs/Dockerfile
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,46 +0,0 @@
-# Copyright 2021 The Kubernetes Authors. All rights reserved.
-#
-# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-# You may obtain a copy of the License at
-#
-#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-#
-# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-# limitations under the License.
-
-
-FROM alpine:3.20 AS base
-
-RUN mkdir -p /opt/third_party/install
-COPY . /opt/third_party/
-
-# install build tools
-RUN apk update \
-	&& apk upgrade \
-	&& apk add -U bash \
-	&& bash /opt/third_party/build.sh -p
-
-ENV NINJA_STATUS="[%p/%f/%t] "
-
-# install otel_ngx_module.so
-FROM base AS nginx
-ARG NGINX_VERSION=1.25.3
-RUN bash /opt/third_party/build.sh -n ${NGINX_VERSION}
-
-FROM golang:1.22.7-bullseye AS build-init
-
-WORKDIR /go/src/app
-COPY . .
-
-RUN go mod download
-RUN CGO_ENABLED=0 go build -o /go/bin/init_module
-
-FROM gcr.io/distroless/static-debian11 AS final
-COPY --from=build-init /go/bin/init_module /
-COPY --from=nginx /etc/nginx/modules /etc/nginx/modules
-
-CMD ["/init_module"]
diff --git a/images/opentelemetry/rootfs/build.sh b/images/opentelemetry/rootfs/build.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 6f803fc9f..000000000
--- a/images/opentelemetry/rootfs/build.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,165 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-
-# Copyright 2021 The Kubernetes Authors.
-#
-# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-# You may obtain a copy of the License at
-#
-#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-#
-# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-# limitations under the License.
-
-set -o errexit
-set -o nounset
-set -o pipefail
-set -x
-# Check for recent changes: https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-cpp/compare/v1.2.0...main
-export OPENTELEMETRY_CPP_VERSION=${OPENTELEMETRY_CPP_VERSION:="v1.11.0"}
-export INSTALL_DIR=/opt/third_party/install
-
-export NGINX_VERSION=${NGINX_VERSION:="1.25.3"}
-# improve compilation times
-CORES=$(($(grep -c ^processor /proc/cpuinfo) - 1))
-
-rm -rf \
-   /var/cache/debconf/* \
-   /var/lib/apt/lists/* \
-   /var/log/* \
-   /tmp/* \
-   /var/tmp/*
-
-export BUILD_PATH=/tmp/build
-mkdir --verbose -p "$BUILD_PATH"
-
-Help()
-{
-   # Display Help
-   echo "Add description of the script functions here."
-   echo
-   echo "Syntax: scriptTemplate [-h|o|n|p|]"
-   echo "options:"
-   echo "h     Print Help."
-   echo "o     OpenTelemetry git tag"
-   echo "n     install nginx"
-   echo "p     prepare"
-   echo
-}
-
-prepare()
-{
-  echo "https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/main" >> /etc/apk/repositories
-  echo "https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community" >> /etc/apk/repositories
-  echo "https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/testing" >> /etc/apk/repositories
-
-  apk add \
-    linux-headers \
-    cmake \
-    ninja \
-    openssl \
-    curl-dev \
-    openssl-dev \
-    gtest-dev \
-    c-ares-dev \
-    pcre-dev \
-    curl \
-    git \
-    build-base \
-    coreutils \
-    build-base \
-    openssl-dev \
-    pkgconfig \
-    c-ares-dev \
-    re2-dev \
-    grpc-dev \
-    protobuf-dev \
-    opentelemetry-cpp-dev
-
-  git config --global http.version HTTP/1.1
-  git config --global http.postBuffer 157286400
-}
-
-install_otel()
-{
-  cd ${BUILD_PATH}
-  export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="${LD_LIBRARY_PATH:+LD_LIBRARY_PATH:}${INSTALL_DIR}/lib:/usr/local"
-  export PATH="${PATH}:${INSTALL_DIR}/bin"
-  git clone --recurse-submodules -j ${CORES} --depth=1 -b \
-    ${OPENTELEMETRY_CPP_VERSION} https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-cpp.git opentelemetry-cpp-${OPENTELEMETRY_CPP_VERSION}
-  cd "opentelemetry-cpp-${OPENTELEMETRY_CPP_VERSION}"
-  mkdir -p .build
-  cd .build
-
-  cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
-        -G Ninja \
-        -DCMAKE_CXX_STANDARD=17 \
-        -DCMAKE_POSITION_INDEPENDENT_CODE=TRUE  \
-        -DWITH_ZIPKIN=OFF \
-        -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=${INSTALL_DIR} \
-        -DBUILD_TESTING=OFF \
-        -DWITH_BENCHMARK=OFF \
-        -DWITH_FUNC_TESTS=OFF \
-        -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF \
-        -DWITH_OTLP_GRPC=ON \
-        -DWITH_OTLP_HTTP=OFF \
-        -DWITH_ABSEIL=ON \
-        -DWITH_EXAMPLES=OFF \
-        -DWITH_NO_DEPRECATED_CODE=ON \
-        ..
-  cmake --build . -j ${CORES} --target install
-}
-
-install_nginx()
-{
-
-  # Check for recent changes: https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-cpp-contrib/compare/e11348bb400d5472bf1da5d6128bead66fa111ff...main
-  export OPENTELEMETRY_CONTRIB_COMMIT=e11348bb400d5472bf1da5d6128bead66fa111ff
-
-  mkdir -p /etc/nginx
-  cd "$BUILD_PATH"
-
-  # TODO fix curl
-  # get_src 0528e793a97f942868616449d49326160f9cb67b2253fb2c4864603ac6ab09a9 \
-  #         "https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-cpp-contrib/archive/$OPENTELEMETRY_CONTRIB_COMMIT.tar.gz"
-
-  git clone https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-cpp-contrib.git \
-    opentelemetry-cpp-contrib-${OPENTELEMETRY_CONTRIB_COMMIT}
-  cd ${BUILD_PATH}/opentelemetry-cpp-contrib-${OPENTELEMETRY_CONTRIB_COMMIT}
-  git reset --hard ${OPENTELEMETRY_CONTRIB_COMMIT}
-  cd ${BUILD_PATH}/opentelemetry-cpp-contrib-${OPENTELEMETRY_CONTRIB_COMMIT}/instrumentation/nginx
-  mkdir -p build
-  cd build
-  cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
-        -G Ninja \
-        -DCMAKE_CXX_STANDARD=17 \
-        -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=${INSTALL_DIR} \
-        -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=ON \
-        -DNGINX_VERSION=${NGINX_VERSION} \
-        ..
-  cmake --build . -j ${CORES} --target install
-
-  mkdir -p /etc/nginx/modules
-  cp ${INSTALL_DIR}/otel_ngx_module.so /etc/nginx/modules/otel_ngx_module.so
-}
-
-while getopts ":phn:" option; do
-   case $option in
-    h) # display Help
-         Help
-         exit;;
-    p) # prepare
-        prepare
-        exit;;
-    n) # install nginx
-        NGINX_VERSION=${OPTARG}
-        install_nginx
-        exit;;
-    \?)
-        Help
-        exit;;
-   esac
-done
diff --git a/images/opentelemetry/rootfs/go.mod b/images/opentelemetry/rootfs/go.mod
deleted file mode 100644
index 207d1d914..000000000
--- a/images/opentelemetry/rootfs/go.mod
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-module init-otel
-
-go 1.22.7
diff --git a/images/opentelemetry/rootfs/init_module.go b/images/opentelemetry/rootfs/init_module.go
deleted file mode 100644
index 5d285052d..000000000
--- a/images/opentelemetry/rootfs/init_module.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,103 +0,0 @@
-/*
-Copyright 2023 The Kubernetes Authors.
-
-Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-You may obtain a copy of the License at
-
-    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-
-Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-limitations under the License.
-*/
-
-package main
-
-import (
-	"fmt"
-	"io"
-	"os"
-	"path/filepath"
-)
-
-func main() {
-	// Enable error handling for all operations
-	err := run()
-	if err != nil {
-		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "Error: %v\n", err)
-		os.Exit(1)
-	}
-}
-
-func run() error {
-	// Create the target directory if it doesn't exist
-	targetDir := "/modules_mount/etc/nginx/modules/otel"
-	err := os.MkdirAll(targetDir, os.ModePerm)
-	if err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("failed to create target directory: %w", err)
-	}
-
-	// Copy files from source directory to target directory
-	sourceDir := "/etc/nginx/modules/"
-	err = filepath.Walk(sourceDir, func(path string, info os.FileInfo, err error) error {
-		if err != nil {
-			return err
-		}
-
-		// Skip directories
-		if info.IsDir() {
-			return nil
-		}
-
-		// Calculate the destination path
-		relPath, err := filepath.Rel(sourceDir, path)
-		if err != nil {
-			return err
-		}
-		destPath := filepath.Join(targetDir, relPath)
-
-		// Create the destination directory if it doesn't exist
-		destDir := filepath.Dir(destPath)
-		err = os.MkdirAll(destDir, os.ModePerm)
-		if err != nil {
-			return err
-		}
-
-		// Copy the file
-		err = copyFile(path, destPath)
-		if err != nil {
-			return err
-		}
-
-		return nil
-	})
-	if err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("failed to copy files: %w", err)
-	}
-
-	return nil
-}
-
-func copyFile(sourcePath, destPath string) error {
-	sourceFile, err := os.Open(sourcePath)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-	defer sourceFile.Close()
-
-	destFile, err := os.Create(destPath)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-	defer destFile.Close()
-
-	_, err = io.Copy(destFile, sourceFile)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-
-	return nil
-}