The operator stated its Nordic operations will now fall under Telenor Connexion to create “a global IoT powerhouse”, bringing what it claimed is millions of SIMs and significant recurring revenue into the unit.

In addition, its portfolio brand Telenor IoT will establish new legal entities in Finland and Norway, in a bid to respond to evolving market dynamics and strengthen its position in the region.

Telenor stated the global managed IoT market outside China is projected to reach around $30 billion by 2030, fuelled by rising demand for connected devices across industries including manufacturing, automotive and smart cities.

Providing some background on its IoT operations, Telenor stated that after 20 years of strategic investment, the company has become one of the world’s largest IoT providers, with more than 25 million devices in use ranging from Volvo cars to water pumps.

The unit generated NOK1.7 billion ($169 million) in 2024. Head of Telenor Amp Dan Ouchterlony said the consolidation was about “unlocking scale and accelerating growth”.

CEO of Telenor Connexion and head of Telenor IoT Mats Lundquist added it has a vision to be among one of the top five IoT providers globally, excluding China.

The transition is expected to complete in January 2026.

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Norway-headquartered Telenor explained in a statement Telenor Myanmar was legally required to provide traffic data to authorities, adding it had “no good options”, since not following directives from the junta would have “been perceived as terrorism and sabotage”, putting employees in danger, the news agency wrote.

The claimants, which include the Defend Myanmar Democracy and Myanmar Internet Project, sent a pre-action letter to Telenor, the first step in bringing a lawsuit. The group said the sale of Telenor to majority-owner Shwe Byain Phyu effectively granted the military “unfettered access” to customer data, Reuters stated.

In a post on its website, the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations, which supports the legal action, noted the claimants intend to prove a “direct causal link” between Telenor’s disclosure of personal data to the junta and the economic losses they incurred.

Telenor, one of the largest foreign investors in Myanmar, started operations in the country in 2014. It sold the unit to M1 Group for $105 million in March 2022 following political instability in early 2021.

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Together, Telenor Procurement Company and Vodafone Procurement Company’s annual spend amounts to more than €26 billion and the duo stated they plan to use this budget to unlock savings by combining purchasing power and expertise across complementary geographies.

The partnership will aim to further deepen supplier and partner engagement, while boosting supply chains “amid a rapidly changing geopolitical global landscape”, read Vodafone’s statement.

There is also a shared commitment to responsible and sustainable business practices and continued promotion of high standards of environmental and social responsibility within respective supply chains.

Ninian Wilson, Vodafone’s supply chain management director and CEO of its Procure and Connect division, said the deal will “drive sustainable efficiencies and greater innovation for our customers”.

He continued: “At the same time, we will simplify engagement for our partners, reducing the administrative burden and duplication in an increasingly complex environment.”

CEO of Telenor Procurement company Thomas Skjelbred added the collaboration will enable it to expand its reach, address common challenges and “navigate a reshaped global supplier landscape driven by ongoing geopolitical and technological shifts”.

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According to local news outlet Express Tribune, the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) revealed during a briefing to the country’s Senate IT Committee that PTCL did not submit a mandatory $1 billion investment plan for regulatory review and failed to provide a timely outline of expected efficiency gains from the merger.

The deal, first announced in December 2023, would see PTCL, the owner of Ufone, acquiring Telenor Pakistan to create the country’s largest mobile operator. Since, the merger has hit repeated roadblocks, with the country’s antitrust regulator flagging competition concerns last year.  

During the briefing, the watchdog further criticised the operator for delaying information requests and ignoring separate accounting rules between PTCL and its mobile arm Ufone. “PTCL abuses its dominant position,” the CCP reportedly stated, citing the company’s track record of non-compliance, collusion and legal challenges against the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).

The regulator also raised concerns over PTCL’s poor performance with Ufone, noting the mobile operator has consistently posted losses under its ownership.

While acknowledging the potential for scale and efficiency, the CCP ultimately warned that the deal could pose a risk to competition by cementing PTCL’s market dominance, eroding consumer choice, restricting innovation and increasing barriers to entry.

Under Pakistan’s Competition Act, the regulator reserves the right to reject the transaction or impose strict conditions, Express Tribune reported.

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Thordur Arnason, global AI GTM lead at Capgemini Invent, told Mobile World Live the service has been trialled with DNB, Norway’s largest bank, to assist Ukrainian refugees, and extended to the Red Cross and the Norwegian police for use cases including border control.

He emphasised that BabelSpeak is designed for sensitive, privacy-critical scenarios, highlighting Capgemini’s fully controlled AI pipeline spanning speech-to-text, translation and synthetic speech output. While consumer tools like Google Translate and ChatGPT may be sufficient for many situations, “what we are targeting, though, are these sensitive conversations where privacy and security is key”.

Efficiency and cost benefits are also major drivers for adoption: “This is a replacement for human translators. We are able to produce translations at a fraction of the cost,” Arnason noted. The Red Cross, for example, previously had to limit the use of translators due to high costs, but now sees potential to scale BabelSpeak across operations at under 10 per cent of previous translation expenses.

With traditional human translators, “you cannot do ad hoc, short planning windows, or the kind of translation situations that we can meet with AI”, Aranson explained, adding that public sector spending on translation services in Norway alone reaches roughly €150 million annually.

Meanwhile, Johannes Aasheim, head of telecommunications Nordics at Capgemini Invent reflected on the initiative’s inception, which came after Telenor and Nvidia announced a partnership at Mobile World Congress in 2024 to accelerate the operator’s internal AI capabilities and provide AI solutions for businesses across the Nordics. Capgemini was then brought in to support market strategy and boost AI. “Together with Nvidia and Telenor, we pushed for a launch within months. We wanted to have an MVP in the market very quickly,” he added.

Looking ahead, the company sees potential for adoption across a wide range of sectors, including telecommunications, manufacturing and energy industries. Aranson added that the service “will be in pilot at least six months more before we are happy”.

But the next stage of the rollout will focus on expanding language coverage, testing translation accuracy across 100 supported languages, and scaling the platform for high-volume, real-time use cases.

To watch the full interview click here.

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Landmass coverage stands at 90 per cent with a near-complete population figure of 99.9 per cent, following an upgrade programme involving deployment of fresh technologies and masts.

Tele2 noted the network expansion often faced literal uphill challenges given Sweden’s mountainous and archipelagic terrain. Net4Mobility also focused on boosting indoor coverage, upping redundancy and improving reliability.

Elin Oveus, head of Networks at Tele2 (pictured) noted the landmass coverage had been upped from 25 per cent previously, a “huge change” which makes it possible to provide fresh services and products.

Net4Mobility’s build employed 700MHz spectrum noted by the operators to provide the kind of reach needed to penetrate forests and mountainous areas. It also uses 3500MHz, in particular for urban settings.

Telenor Sweden network expert Sara Kebert (pictured, left) said the JV had built the “network of the future” and tackled hard-to-reach areas.

The expansion advances broader coverage and capacity goals by the JV’s parents, along with contributing to preparations to turn off older-generation networks.

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The agreement will see Broadpeak replace Telenor’s existing content delivery network (CDN) systems with a unified solution designed to support its portfolio of TV and streaming services. These include Telenor T-We, Telenor Stream and DNA TV, which collectively serve millions of customers with live TV, linear channels and entertainment series across mobile, web and connected TV platforms.

Broadpeak explained its system will enable Telenor to streamline operations by delivering enhanced streaming quality, improved energy efficiency and traffic management through a single interface. To that end, the company said its advanced CDN solution can deliver more than 1 Tb/s per server and will be deployed with multiple points of presence in each country to handle high traffic volumes during peak demand.

The overhaul covers live TV, video-on-demand (VOD), catch-up, start-over and personal video recorder (PVR) features. The upgraded network will also allow Telenor to offer CDN-as-a-service to third-party content providers.

Emil Hansen, VP Nordic TV at Telenor, hailed the partnership with Broadpeak, stating its ability to “handle complex migration challenges and provide the unified management we need to efficiently grow our services” will “offer even more value to our Nordic customers”.

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KNL CEO Toni Linden stated it is increasing production to meet growing demand, with several countries running pilots and expectations for future orders running high.

“We’re seeing strong interest from the market to test and adopt” the offering, Linden said explaining this “reinforces its relevance and potential impact”.

The contracts were signed in April and are part of a ten-year framework agreement with NORDEFCO, a Nordic defence cooperation framework enabling joint procurement and interoperability among member nations.

KNL noted the agreement may be extended to include additional NATO countries.

Initial deliveries of its portable high-frequency military radios to the Finnish and Swedish armed forces are scheduled by the end of the year.

The company is running pilots with Norway’s Defence Research Establishment and working with several other NATO countries.

KNL became part of Telenor in 2020 and specialises in secure defence communications, providing encrypted and resilient connectivity able to withstand jamming and other types of interference.

The unit stated its cognitive networked high-frequency Manpack radios operate completely independently of any infrastructure including GPS.

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Fasmer stated a stellar performance in the Nordics was due to network strength and attractive add-on services, delivered against the backdrop of ongoing turbulence in the wider geopolitical landscape.

“Closing the first half of 2025, it is safe to say we live in turbulent times,” she said. “Rising uncertainty due to geopolitics and trade tensions, combined with technological disruption and cybersecurity threats have highlighted the importance of ensuring resilient digital infrastructure.”

Revenue rose 1.9 per cent year-on-year to NOK20.3 billion ($2 billion), with Fasmer attributing the growth to home market Norway and Finland, markets where its handset and security solution launches “were well received by customers”.

The Nordic markets of Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland delivered a 5.7 increase in revenue to NOK14.7 billion. The picture was not so bright in Asia, with sales from the continent down 7.2 per cent to NOK4.8 billion.

This was mainly due to Bangladesh, where revenue dipped 13.3 per cent to NOK3.3 billion, blamed on high inflation and volatile market conditions impacting consumer spending.

Pakistan was, however, a strong performer, with revenue up 9 per cent to just more than NOK1 billion.

Telenor reported a 46.7 increase in net income to NOK3.7 billion, mainly due to stronger operating profit and increased contribution for associates and joint ventures.

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Allente was formed in 2020 in a joint venture agreement between Telenor and Viaplay, providing TV content to residential and business customers across the Nordics.

Explaining the transaction value, Telenor stated SEK4.4 billion has been paid out in dividends. Based on the expected future development of Allente, the parties agreed on an enterprise value of SEK3.1 billion, with a total cash consideration to Telenor of SEK1.1 billion.

Dan Ouchterlony, EVP of Telenor Amp, stated it is proud of what had been accomplished with Allente and Viaplay over the past five years.

“As the company enters its next chapter, there is a better fit with Viaplay’s strategy than with Telenor’s. We’re confident the company will be in the right hands going forward,” he added.

Jorgen Madsen Lindemann, president and CEO of Viaplay, added it had a mutually beneficial cooperation with Telenor over the years and is looking to build on a strong foundation.

The sale by Telenor comes in the same month the operator agreed to acquire GlobalConnect’s consumer fibre operation in Norway.

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Fibre infrastructure and around 140,000 customers are part of Telenor’s arrangement. It highlighted the move as significant in terms of its position in the Norwegian market, along with the potential to create long-term strength through synergies.

Telenor predicted its share of fibre subscriptions in Norway would rise from 22 per cent to 29 per cent, based on data covering 2024 issued by the Norwegian Communications Authority (NKOM).

It highlighted GlobalConnect’s consumer unit generated NOK600 million in revenue during 2024 and predicted EBIDTA of NOK300 million per year in the first two years of operation after integration and restructuring costs.

Cost savings could stand at NOK150 million, “driven by backbone integration and scale efficiencies”, Telenor stated.

Telenor president and CEO Benedicte Schilbred Fasmer said the GlobalConnect deal would extend its fibre service opportunity by bringing more households into its reach, a “strategic step forward”.

It plans to offer digital security and high-quality home network services, along with entertainment offerings.

Fasmer said Telenor would “keep raising the bar” for customers.

The operator also highlighted security credentials including ongoing investment in fraud prevention, providing secure Wi-Fi and digital protections.

GlobalConnect CEO Martin Lippert said its consumer business in Norway booked “consistent growth over many years”.

He explained the company is focused on becoming a pure wholesale provider, meaning it made sense to sell its consumer unit.

Lippert offered business customers and other carriers assurances the areas would “remain a strategic focus” for GlobalConnect, with ongoing investments planned.

NKOM approval is required.

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The ten-year agreement was struck with the Nordic Defence Cooperation (NORDEFCO) which is a collaboration between five countries in the region, including Finland and Sweden, to coordinate on defence initiatives.

KNL specialises in high-frequency communication solutions that operate without reliance on satellites or traditional infrastructure. This makes the systems highly portable and resilient against jamming and cyber threats — an increasingly critical feature in modern defence missions.

In a statement, Toni Linden, CEO of KNL, stressed the real-world benefits of the technology, explaining that the communications system remains operational in very harsh conditions including during active enemy interference.

Acquired by Telenor five years ago, the Finnish subsidiary has since streamlined its dual-use civilian and military solutions to focus solely on developing technology for defence applications.

International ambitions
Beyond Finland and Sweden, KNL revealed it is engaging with several NATO countries, signalling broader ambitions in the global defence sector. Looking ahead, Telenor forecasted significant international growth opportunities for its subsidiary as nations prioritise secure military communication solutions.

The company noted that as defence collaboration across the Nordics intensifies, with Sweden and Finland securing NATO accession in the last two years, countries in the region are ramping up joint procurement efforts to standardise solutions. Telenor predicts the push for streamlined equipment purchases across armed forces will drive demand for their solution.

“Our technology meets a critical need in today’s security situation, and the interest we see from several NATO countries confirms that we have developed something truly valuable and unique,” Linden explained.

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Wist is scheduled to take up the post no later than 1 February 2025. Until then, interim CFO Kasper Wold Kaarbo will continue to oversee financial operations.

Telenor stated the incoming finance chief’s appointment was overseen by inbound CEO Benedicte Schilbred Fasmer, who is scheduled to replace Sigve Brekke no later than 1 December.

The outgoing chief expressed satisfaction the company lined up a “strong and experienced CFO” as the permanent replacement for Tone Hegland Bachke, who announced her plan to depart in April.

Wist held several key roles at Telenor during his previous tenure, departing in 2018 from the positions of SVP and group treasurer to become EVP and CFO of Scandinavian Airlines.

He currently holds those same roles with global logistics company Wallenius Wilhelmsen and even steered the ship as acting CEO for a 15-month period.

Telenor stated such experience makes Wist a good fit for its strategy, “securing deep telecom-industry insight and excellent financial execution”.

Wist said it is an “honour and a privilege” to be selected by Telenor, which he argued is “in a unique position” to deliver “innovative and customer-centric” technology services.

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Service revenue hit NOK16.3 billion ($1.5 bilion), a 4.5 per cent increase year-on-year, while overall sales were flat at NOK20 billion. Net income increased to NOK2.6 billion from NOK821 million, while EBITDA climbed 3.8 per cent to NOK8.8 billion.

The company pointed to growth in its Nordics and Asia divisions. In the former, Telenor said it benefitted from reduced costs, while Thailand had a particularly strong quarter in the latter.

In its earning statement, the company also highlighted progress across cybersecurity and technology.

The company said it had stopped more than 1 billion digital crime attempts against its customers in Norway so far in 2024, blocking fraudulent sites, phishing attempts and malware downloading, as well as fraud attempts through SMS and phone calls.

Through its Telenor Cyberdefence unit, established in June, the company added it was making progress monetising the security segment.

In technology, it pointed to a strategic partnership with Nvidia, which is part of an “ambitious” AI plan. It is also working with AWS to advance sovereign cloud.

Outgoing CEO Sigve Brekke, who will leave at the end of 2024, said when taking on the role nine years ago the talk was about making connectivity a basic necessity, and also finding new ways to create value.

“While I am satisfied with the solid results for the first half of the year, I am even more satisfied with the way we are reshaping and developing Telenor. We have built a strong foundation for the next 5-10 years to come,”

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In an announcement, Telenor Cyberdefence named Combitech as a “perfect match” for its new operation, claiming the acquisition reflects a “significant step” that will lead to a broader range of cybersecurity services.

The agreement also includes the appointment of CEO at Combitech’s Norwegian business Thulin Rokke as Telenor Cyberdefence COO.

Telenor Cyberdefence hopes the arrangement will help it execute its Nordics expansion and boost its customer base, highlighting Combitech’s “solid expertise” and history in the security business, which in turn gives it a “solid foundation to look at further investment”.

Value of the transaction was not disclosed.

Combitech’s Norwegian unit is based in Oslo and is run by “just over 20 employees”, Telenor Cyberdefence said, adding the acquisition is part of its strategic initiatives to solidify its operation.

Combitech will work closely with Telenor Norway’s business division.

“Through the merger with Telenor Cyberdefence, we get the opportunity to become part of one of Norway’s leading security environments and contribute to building a strong position in the market. The threat landscape is constantly changing, and we are convinced that together we will be able to offer our customers even better security services and support,” Rokke commented.

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In a statement, Telenor explained it built the company in response to growing cyber threats targeting local businesses and the public sector, with research commissioned by operator showing 130,000 Norwegian companies had experienced an attack in the past year.

Telenor CEO Sigve Brekke said “we have never experienced cyber threats as frequent and severe as we do today”, describing the new business as “a cybersecurity company with Nordic ambitions”.

Thomas Kronen (pictured) was appointed CEO of Telenor Cyberdefence, overseeing the company’s offerings including a security operations centre, consulting services and the testing of IT infrastructure.

Kronen was previously a board member and MD at Orange Cyberdefence Norway.

Approximately 50 security personnel from Telenor Norway will be transferred to the cybersecurity business, which will assume responsibility for the operator’s existing security customers at around 70 enterprises.

Kronen said it will “bring together security experts from across our Nordic region to create a powerful entity with comprehensive capabilities dedicated to safeguarding our customers’ digital security”.

Telenor Cyberdefence sits within Telenor Amp, part of the operator’s larger business which manages a portfolio of 15 companies in “high-growth areas”, including cybersecurity and IoT.

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Located in the municipality of Karlskrona, Telenor explained the facility aims to help customers “understand how their connected IoT products behave before deployment”. The site will be equipped with a Faraday cage tailored to test different networks, providing access to connectivity across all of Telenor’s Nordic operations.

Telenor added the lab features “advanced steering and control systems allowing control of the available operator, access technology and even signal levels” to simulate most network scenarios in a controlled and repeatable way.

This way, businesses can verify how IoT devices perform under different roaming scenarios, or learn about their energy efficiency in “various network conditions and signal strengths”, for example.

Businesses have options to test their IoT devices on-site or remotely by sending the products to the operator’s test manager, with a “long-term testing” scheme also on offer. Additionally, Telenor’s IoT specialists can provide consultations in planning the tests and analysing results.

The company noted advances in network technologies have delivered wider coverage, improved power consumption and throughput, and at the same time adding complexities in the deployment of IoT devices.

To this end, Telenor argues “the profiling and tuning of settings are required to extract the optimum performance for the customer’s specific use case”.

In May, research house Informa recorded a total of 16.1 billion active IoT devices globally in 2023, a figure it forecasted to reach almost 40 billion by 2033.

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Telenor stated Brekke has a contract that stipulates retirement at the end of this year, meaning it has been carrying out an extensive process for months to identify the right candidate to replace him.

The board of directors stated it had considered several internal and external candidates before landing on Fasmer.

Fasmer is currently the CEO of Norwegian financial institution SpareBank 1 SR-Bank and previously served as EVP of insurance company Fremtind Forsikring and group EVP of DNB Bank.

Telenor also pointed to her experience in capital markets, including private equity.

Chair of the board Jens Petter Olsen (pictured, rear right) said Telenor is an institution of great importance “for the 200 million customers in our footprint and for the societies we empower”.

“We need a CEO with great leadership skills, who understands how technology will enable us to deliver secure and superior customer experience and someone who will ensure profitable growth,” he added.

Brekke will leave after joining the company in August 2015, and Olsen said the company had outperformed the industry during “a very demanding period for European telcos”.

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The executive noted its figures showed an increase of almost 70 per cent in attack attempts on customers compared to Q4, with the appetite for security products increasing.  

“The significant scale of these attacks tells us this is a serious social problem,” Brekke said. “The attacks are carried out by well-organised criminal networks, and new technology makes it increasingly easier to mass-produce various forms of attacks.”

He added the company was continuing to develop its product range in this area to address growing customer demand for protection.

AI drive
Away from security, Brekke indicated the company was pushing-on with its AI drive, having inked a wide-ranging deal with Nvidia to boost its use of the technology and develop commercial offerings during MWC24 in February.

Telenor already uses AI for network optimisation and customer services, Brekke noted, adding at “the speed at which AI develops, you risk being outdated tomorrow if you don’t act now”.

As a result of the tie-up with Nvidia, he noted an aim to accelerate AI in the Nordic region and plans to integrate the technology “into all aspects of our business, from the workplace and the value chain to the customer experiences”.

In terms of the numbers, Brekke described Telenor’s Q1 performance as “solid”. It booked revenue up 2 per cent organically to NOK19.5 billion ($1.8 billion).

Net profit was NOK11.6 billion, down from NOK18.1 billion in the same quarter of last year, though the latter figure was impacted by a significant gain from the merger of its operation in Thailand.

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Telenor stated Bachke will depart to take on a role as member of the executive board of directors at the Netherlands-based SHV Holdings, a financial trading company.

She joined Telenor in 2018 as head of group treasury before taking on her current role in 2020. Prior to joining the operator group, the executive held leadership positions including as CEO and CFO at construction company Implenia and as a board member at Veidekke.

Bachke will be temporarily replaced by SVP of performance and ownership at the company, Kasper Kaarbo (pictured, right), starting 8 May, added Telenor.

Kaarbo has helmed several senior roles in Telenor since joining the company in 2004, specialising across finance and strategy functions. He also held several board positions within Telenor, and is currently a board member of Malaysia’s CelcomDigi.

Commenting on Bachke’s departure, Sigve Brekke, CEO of Telenor, expressed gratitude for the departing CFO’s “relentless” contribution to “Telenor’s strategic development and performance”.

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During a keynote panel on the second day of MWC Barcelona 2024, Brekke said the goal of mobile operators and the broader telecoms industry is to empower societies and “actively contribute” to societal development through various initiatives. 

Brekke attended the session alongside Katarina Mellstrom of Global Child Forum, Lara Perdomo of UNICEF Spain (pictured, right) and Tayma Abdalhadi (pictured, left) at ITU’s Generation Connect. 

The Telenor executive particularly highlighted the work done around protecting child rights in the online world, referring to the company’s filtering system to prevent distribution of illegal content and programmes designed to provide education on online misinformation and cyber threats. 

Telenor has also collaborated with UNICEF and the Pakistani authorities to enrol local communities to educational institutions. 

Meanwhile, Mellstrom described operators including Telenor, Telia, Verizon and Vodafone as actors keen on partnering with non-governmental organisations to “initiate and run different projects”.

Mellstrom also highlighted the fact that 360 million people remain unconnected, despite children accounting for one-third of global internet users. “This might lead us to a situation where we have segregation,” she said. 

“AI is also already here, and Deepfake is another thing. “We need to make sure that young people can really be source-critical.”

The human rights advocate identified a need to educate young internet users to “really understand what’s fake and what’s not” as generative AI deployment increases.

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Brekke noted digitalisation reached new heights in 2023, with services including water supply, payment solutions, emergency and healthcare all to a large extent becoming digital.

However, this ultimately leads to greater vulnerability, “which is why investments in digital security are just as important as investment in artificial intelligence”, he said.

In total, the Norwegian operator claims it stopped around 300 million attempts at digital crime against customers in Q4 alone, an increase of around 30 per cent compared to the previous quarter.

With AI on the rise, criminal groups have gained access to new toolbox and it was crucial for individuals and businesses to adapt to a new era of threats, insisted Brekke.

On to the numbers, Brekke hailed a strong quarter, with revenue up to NOK21 billion ($2 billion) from NOK19.7 billion year-on-year, with service revenue increasing 7 per cent NOK16.1 billion. Telenor Nordics and Telenor Asia delivered 4 per cent and 7 percent service revenue growth respectively, with Brekke pointing to a strong mobile network performance and gains in Finland.

However, the company reported a net loss of NOK7.4 billion, with the figure mainly impacted by an impairment flagged earlier this week from its investment in Thailand’s True Corp.

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The infrastructure provides coverage to the Norwegian Polar Institute’s Troll research station, which conducts environmental projects in the region, and the surrounding area.

Alongside the research hub, the Troll facility includes a satellite communications ground station that collects data from climate-monitoring satellites.

Telenor indicated the company’s extensive experience in Arctic connectivity played a role in it being able to build and operate infrastructure in the climate of Antarctica, lauding its the latest move as “setting a new benchmark for connectivity in the harshest of environments”.

In its statement, Telenor Svalbard head Christian Skottun branded mobile coverage as “crucial” to both polar regions, adding “for research communities, the ability to utilise mobile IoT in gathering data from fieldwork is particularly attractive. Additionally, mobile coverage opens up new possibilities for research and environmental monitoring in the Antarctic oceanic area”.  

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The deal, announced in November 2023, is the latest in a number of divestments by the operator group as it seeks to slim down the company and focus on its core business.   

Space Norway manages and develops non-terrestrial infrastructure deemed important for the country including in the national security realm. Telenor Satellite’s business provides broadcasting services, alongside data transmission for maritime and other sectors.

In the state-owned company’s statement on the completion of the deal, Telenor Satellite CEO Morten Tengs said the two teams aimed to “continue to develop the Norwegian space sector as well as serve our clients throughout the Nordics and EMEA”.

The newly enlarged Space Norway comprises around 170 employees located in the Oslo and Tromso areas.

Telenor’s divestment of the asset follows its sale of Working Group Two to Cisco, which completed in October, and a number of moves within its Asia operations including the in-progress sale of its unit in Pakistan.

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In an interview with MWL just days after Telenor Group closed a deal to exit Pakistan with a sale to e&-owned PTCL, Furberg (pictured above) explained the Norway-headquartered operator realised over the last five years that scale is vital within each market, noting “the growth that was helping us significantly through our first phase is flattening out”. 

The executive, previously chief of Nordic operations, returned to Asia as head of the region on 1 October.

With competition driving down prices, he noted operators must have a strong focus on efficiency and taking out costs, which is only possible by being the market leader.

“It isn’t sustainable in this industry to be in four-player markets, especially if the regulatory conditions are not making it easy for all operators to actually become profitable,” he stated, noting its parent set the goal to be number one in the markets where it operates.

When Telenor started in Asia, the company believed it would be possible to drive down costs sufficiently to make mobile service more affordable for everyone through global scale. “We strongly believed through scale across markets we would have advantages that others couldn’t.” 

To a large extent, he said Telenor was able to do this through leadership, culture, ways of doing business and sourcing, which has driven good results in this region and in the Nordics.

With the sale of Telenor Pakistan and mergers of its mobile units Digi (Malaysia) and dtac (Thailand), “we are executing on a strategy which has matured over a number of years”.

Furberg noted through the sale to PTCL it is facilitating a consolidation in the market which “we think is natural and necessary”.

In addition to assets in Malaysia and Thailand, its Bangladesh business Grameenphone is the largest by subscribers and registering attractive growth.

Bigger is better
Summarising the upside of its tie-ups in Malaysia and Thailand, he started by noting mergers are never easy, and they also fail because they are complicated. “So far they are progressing according to plan,” with both delivering dividends in line with what it promised.

The executive said this is proof why the mergers make sense. The big potential from the market consolidation move, he pointed out, comes from taking out costs.

“We’re at the beginning of building value within Celcom-Digi and True-dtac. The big value will come as the synergy initiatives actually create sufficient momentum.”

It also has plans to reduce staff levels, with short-term spikes in costs due to severance packages. The full impact of the moves are anticipated three, four or five years after the deals close.

Furberg acknowledged competition in the Malaysian market is still intense because there are five players, while in Thailand, now a two-player market after dtac combined with True Corp, competition is strong in mobile as well as broadband, after AIS acquired fixed-line and fibre assets.

Myanmar
As the first CEO of Telenor Myanmar, Furberg recalled the highs and lows of the market’s rapid opening up in 2013 and subsequent mass-market launch of affordable mobile service, and the company’s departure in 2022 due to violent crackdowns on protests and continued curbs on freedoms by the military government. 

“Myanmar for me personally was the best job that I’ve ever had. It felt unbelievably meaningful.”

Telenor was one of two international companies granted licences by the government to deploy nationwide greenfield networks, at a time when SIM cards cost $300 and coverage was extremely limited.

He shared the experience of receiving more than 100,000 applicants for some 700 positions, with roughly 10,000 from international applicants. “People from around the world wanted to be part of building this country and supporting the people that had suffered so much to 50 years of military dictatorship.”

The executive said the company had clear ambitions of operating based on international standards, in a country considered to be one of the most corrupt in the world. “There was an unbelievable number of challenges, but we were determined to be transparent in how we handled them. I felt we also were part of lifting the standards in the country.”

AI focus
Asked about the potential for the metaverse, he didn’t hesitate to declare “it’s not something that keeps me up at night”, but insisted AI is a topic he thinks a lot about and believes is a game changer. 

“To drive value we need to constantly improve the way we’re operating our companies, and AI will make a huge difference with respect to how we actually produce and deliver our services to customers.”

Telenor is experimenting a lot with AI, with about 250 different initiatives under test.

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The Norway-headquartered operator stated the transaction wraps up a strategic review of its operations in the country unveiled 18 months ago, with rumours surfacing in July PTCL was interested in acquiring Telecom Pakistan.

Telenor said the transaction values its unit at NOK5.3 billion ($493.5 million) on a cash and debt-free basis. 

In a stock market filing, PTCL said it will fund the acquisition through external debt it plans to raise.

GSMA Intelligence estimates Telecom Pakistan ended September with 45.4 million mobile connections and PTCL 25.2 million.

Veon-owned Jazz had 70.5 million and China Mobile-backed Zong 46.8 million.

Telenor CEO Sigve Brekke suggested the consolidation would help strengthen Pakistan’s telecoms sector, creating opportunities in new areas of growth.

Petter-Borre Furberg, head of Telenor Asia, added it believes the market will be better served by a strong local champion.

“Our strategy in Asia is to build number one positions in the markets we operate, with scale as a pre-requisite for value creation and profitable growth,” Furberg said.

Telenor booked a NOK2.5 billion impairment charge on the unit in July 2022, pointing to a deteriorating macroeconomic situation.

PTCL is owned by UAE-based e&.

The sale marks the continued retrenchment of Telenor’s operations in Asia, following a merger of Digi in Malaysia and dtac Thailand, and the sale of its Myanmar unit in 2021 to Lebanon-based M1 Group for $105 million.

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Ny-Alesund is located 1,111-kilometres away from the North Pole and is the world’s northernmost community, Telenor explained in a statement. It is also home to a research facility exploring environmental studies of the Arctic, with the site connected to global research institutions from more than ten countries. 

Telenor noted it delivered a mobile network in Ny-Alesund with government-owned infrastructure company Kings Bay and the Norwegian Polar Institute, the former of which operates all communications infrastructure in the area and was responsible for rolling out fibre and power supply. 

Coverage director at Telenor Bjorn Amundsen revealed its plan to connect Ny-Alesund with mobile connectivity first emerged in 2001 and noted the town has only received coverage now due to the general prohibition on use of all radio transmitters in certain frequency bands in the area, which includes Wi-Fi and bluetooth. Amundsen also pointed to the high costs associated in delivering mobile connectivity.

Now that mobile coverage has been established, Telenor has committed to ensuring that everyone arriving in Ny-Alesund receives a text message informing them to switch-off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on all equipment, ensuring sensitive measuring equipment deployed in the area is not exposed to radio interference.

Christian Skottun, head of Telenor Svalbard, added mobile coverage will open new opportunities and provide new services, including the company’s mobile banking product. 

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The new entity will be branded Telenor Tracking Solutions and fall under the remit of Telenor Amp, the group division overseeing a range of interests outside of the core business including its maritime, global IoT connectivity and soon-to-be-sold satellite company.

Pet tracking brand Mitt Spor was launched by the operator in 2020 and provides near real time updates of a dog’s position alongside various health statistics. It can also send alerts when an animal wearing its device moves out of a defined area.  

Telenor Amp head Dan Ouchterlony said although the tracking service had started small, “we see potential for further growth and partnerships”.

Under the new venture, the service is set to integrate the Norwegian Veterinary Association’s DyreID animal tagging system and eventually launch a cat version of the product.

“Over 1.2 million Norwegians currently live with dogs. In addition, it is estimated that we have around 700,000 owned cats in Norway,” Ouchterlony added. “There is significant market potential, and we also see great opportunities in both the Nordic region and the rest of Europe.”

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Alongside the sale, the pair signed a letter of intent for collaboration covering business development projects around satellite capacity and related consulting services.  

Telenor Satellite provides broadcasting services to homes and data communication in a range of environments, including offshore. It covers various markets across EMEA.

Space Norway CEO Dag Stolan indicated the deal would combine his company’s existing public sector work with Telenor’s commercial customer base, giving a “strong platform to grow the business in both sectors”.

Dan Ouchterlony, head of Telenor Amp, the division where its satellite unit resides, backed the new owner to “prioritise the required financial resources to realise the company’s potential”. He also noted the sale would allow Telenor to focus on its core business.

The deal is subject to approval by the Norwegian Parliament and is expected to close in January 2024.

Its move comes as the operator group continues to slim down its portfolio to focus on key areas, with the Telenor Amp division completing the sale of its stake in Working Group 2 last month and various moves in the group’s Asia operations.   

During its Q3 earnings call last month, Telenor CEO Sigve Brekke highlighted it was “pushing forward with portfolio optimisation” in Asia and other divisions.

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The operator quizzed more than 8,000 mobile internet users in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, finding 83 per cent believe smartphones have increased their workplace productivity over the past five years.

Almost 50 per cent believe a mobile connection would help them get ahead at work or switch careers, with 87 per cent stating the devices have improved or significantly improved work quality and performance.

More than 50 per cent stated said their mobile usage opened the door to learning new skills.

Head of Telenor Asia Petter-Borre Furberg stated “as mobile devices become increasingly central to our lives, so does the need for all stakeholders to continue understanding the people and parts of the ecosystem most at risk”.

“We must continue working with all stakeholders to ensure that people are educated and informed about online security risks, and create a safe online environment to allow all generations to take advantage of the potential of mobile.”

Privacy and security were cited as concerns by 90 per cent.

A majority believe they have balanced mobile usage, with less than 10 per cent reporting negative emotions such as anxiety.

Almost 75 per cent of respondent indicated their mobile usage helps them live more sustainably by reducing paper usage, providing access to education and information, and being more informed about daily life choices.

Some 34 per cent said they use a 5G connection most of the time, with video and music streaming the most common activities.

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