Telenor

For other uses, see Telenor (disambiguation).

Telenor ASA (Norwegian pronunciation: [ˈtêːlənuːr] or [tɛləˈnuːr])^[2] is a Norwegian majority state-owned multinational telecommunications company headquartered at Fornebu in Bærum, close to Oslo. It is one of the world's largest mobile telecommunications companies with operations worldwide, but focused in Scandinavia and Asia. It has extensive broadband and TV distribution operations in four Nordic countries, and a 10-year-old research and business line for machine-to-machine technology. Telenor owns networks in 8 countries.^[3]

Telenor ASA

Type	State-owned Allmennaksjeselskap
Traded as	OSE: TEL
Industry	Telecommunications
Founded	1855; 168 years ago (1855)
Headquarters	Fornebu, Norway
Key people	Sigve Brekke (President and CEO), Gunn Wærsted (Chair of the Board)
Products	Fixed line and mobile telephony, internet, digital television, IT services, IPTV
Revenue	110.2 billion kr (2021)^[1]
Operating income	21.5 billion kr (2021)^[1]
Net income	4.6 billion kr (2021)^[1]
Total assets	225.7 billion kr (2021)^[1]
Total equity	26.3 billion kr (2021)^[1]
Owner	Government of Norway (54%) Free float (46%)
Number of employees	16,000 (2021)^[1]
Website	telenor.com

Telenor is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange and had a market capitalization in November 2015 of kr 225 billion, making it the third largest company listed on the OSE after DNB and Equinor (previously known as Statoil).^[4]

History

 

Telenor headquarters at Fornebu just west of Oslo, Norway. This is the western section containing group staffs and - as tenants - the offices of Huawei Norway.

 

Telenor headquarter eastern section, containing Telenor Broadcast and Telenor Norway.

 

CEO Sigve Brekke, head of the Telenor Group since August 2015

 

Former CEO Fredrik Baksaaas (left) with Ericsson CEO Carl-Henrik Svanberg, 2008.

 

Old style Telenor Mobile SIM, with the former company logo.

 

Kjell Holler (right) was a Norwegian industrialist who headed Televerket, after having served as Minister of Industry of Norway.

Telegraph

Telenor started off in 1855, as a state-operated monopoly provider of telegraph services named Telegrafverket. The first Norwegian planning for a telegraph were launched within the Royal Norwegian Navy in 1848, but by 1852, the plans were public and the Parliament of Norway decided on a plan for constructing a telegraph system throughout the country. Televerket began by connecting Christiania (now Oslo) to Sweden (Norway was at that time in a union with Sweden) as well as Christiania and Drammen. By 1857, the telegraph had reached Bergen on the west coast via Sørlandet on the south coast, and by 1871, it had reached Kirkenes on the far north coast. Cable connections were opened to Denmark in 1867 and to Great Britain in 1869. The telegraph was most important for the merchant marine who now could use the electric telegraph to instantly communicate between different locations, and get a whole new advantage from better logistics.^[5]

Telephone

The first telephone service in Norway was offered in 1878, between Arendal and Tvedestrand, while the first international telephone service between Christiania and Stockholm was offered in 1893. Automation of the telephone system was started in 1920, and completed in 1985. In 1946, the first Telex service was offered, and in 1976, satellite telephone connections to the Norwegian merchant navy, at the time the largest in the world and to oil platforms in the North Sea were made operational. This is the start of Inmarsat Satellite Communication, and formed the first steps to digitalise the telephone network in 1980–1985.^[6]

Televerket opened its first manual mobile telephone system in 1966, being replaced with the automatic NMT system in 1981, and the enhanced NMT-900 in 1986. Norway was the first country in to get an automatic mobile telephone system. The digital GSM system came into use in 1993. The third generation of mobile technology with UMTS system began full operation 2004.^[7] The Opera web browser was created in 1994 by Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner and Geir Ivarsøy during their tenure at Telenor, and Opera Software was established in 1995, when they went on to continue development of their browser.^[8] Telenor and Huawei conducted a successful test of 5G with 70 Gbit/s Speeds in Lab environment.^[9]

Deregulation and internationalisation

The corporation changed its name to Televerket in 1969. In 1994, then the Norwegian Telecom was established as a public corporation. The telecom sector in Norway, was deregulated in stages between 1994 and 1998. An attempt to merge Telenor with its counterpart in Sweden, Telia, failed in 1999, while both still were owned by their respective governments. On 4 December, 2000, the company was partially privatised and listed on Oslo Stock Exchange and NASDAQ.^[10] The privatisation gave the company 15.6 billion kr in new capital, with the Government of Norway owning 77.7% of the company. As of 2014, the Norwegian government holds 53.97% of the Telenor shares directly and another 4.66% through the Pension Fund.^[11]

In the second half of the 1990s, Telenor began mobile operations in other countries: Russia (1994), Bangladesh, Greece, Ireland, Germany and Austria (1997), Ukraine (1998), Malaysia (1999), Denmark and Thailand (2000), Hungary (2002), Montenegro (2004), Pakistan (2004), Slovakia, Czech Republic, Serbia (2006), Myanmar (2014). Operations in Greece, Ireland and Germany were sold in 1999/2000, and profits were re-invested in emerging markets. In October 2005, Telenor acquired Vodafone Sweden, changing the name to Telenor in April 2006.

Grameenphone was the first Telenor venture in the Asian telecom market and is now the largest mobile operator in Bangladesh, Telenor holds 55.8 per cent of the company. Grameenphone started trading its shares on the stock exchanges in Dhaka and Chittagong on 16 November 2009. The success of Grammeenphone lead to an increased focus on Asia, with successful entries into Malaysia, Thailand Pakistan, and Myanmar. Telenor also entered India, but had to withdraw from that market in 2017, with substantial losses.

In March 2018, Telenor sold its business in Southeast Europe (Bulgaria, Hungary, Montenegro and Serbia) to the PPF Group, for a sum of 2.8 billion euros in order to focus more on Asia and the Nordic market.^[12]

In 2019, Telenor bought DNA, the third largest mobile operator in Finland.^[13]

On 21 June 2021, Axiata, Telenor and Digi agree to a potential merger of Celcom and Digi to create a stronger telco in Malaysia, which if approved will be completed by the end of 2022. This come after advanced discussions two months earlier.^[14][15][16] The deal was approved by both Celcom and Digi shareholders on 18 November 2022. The merged company is named CelcomDigi. At completion, Axiata and Telenor will hold equal ownership of 33.1% each in the newly merged company. The merger was completed on 30 November 2022 and the company began its operation the next day.^{[17][18][19][20][21][22]}

On 22 November 2021, Telenor and Charoen Pokphand Group, officially announced they have agreed to explore a USD 8.6 billion merger plan between Thailand’s second and third largest telecom operators (by subscribers), True Corporation (TRUE) and Total Access Communication (DTAC) – the proposed merger is subject to regulatory approvals.^[23] The merger was "acknowledged" by the regulator NBTC at a meeting on October 20, 2022.^[24] The merged company will be named ThaiCo, originally known as NewCo, although it was rumoured that the company will be named True-D and will be listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand on 1 February 2023.^{[25][26][27][28][29][30]}

Operations

Telenor offers a full range of telecommunication services in the Nordic countries, including mobile and fixed telephony, Internet access and as well as cable TV access and content. Telenor still remains the largest actor in Norway despite competition from Telia and others.

The group holds a prominent position in the Scandinavian Broadband and TV market, both with regard to the number of subscribers and to the extent of coverage. The TV distribution is branded Allente. Telenor is also a prominent actor in Asia with operations in five different Asian countries.

At year-end 2021, Telenor held controlling interests in mobile operations in Norway, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Thailand, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Pakistan. The Myanmar operation was announced sold in 2021, and the transaction completed in March 2022.

Country	Operator	Native name	Ownership stake	2019 revenue (million NOK)
Norway	Telenor Norway	Telenor	100%	28 658
Denmark	Telenor Denmark	Telenor	100%	4 871
Finland	DNA	DNA	100%	3 433
Sweden	Telenor Sverige	Telenor	100%	12 857
Bangladesh	Grameenphone	গ্রামীণফোন	55.8%	14 980
Malaysia	CelcomDigi	celcomdigi	33.1%	13 572
Pakistan	Telenor Pakistan	ٹیلی نار	100%	6 033
Thailand	ThaiCo	ไทยโก้	19.64%	22 994

Telenor Maritime Radio is responsible for the infrastructure for maritime radio communication in Norway, and also includes five staffed coast radio stations whose primary purpose is to monitor the maritime radio traffic (over e.g. VHF and MF bands) and to assist marine vessels in distress.^{[citation needed]}

Research

Telenor Research is Telenor's corporate unit for research. The unit conducts research and delivers research based advice on topics such as market, technology, data analytics, innovation and organization. Telenor Research provides research based analysis and strategic recommendations to the Telenor Group, as well as to the individual Business Units across Telenor markets. Telenor Research's mission is to create business value for Telenor through applied research.

Machine-to-machine

Telenor started exploring the M2M potentials in 2000, when Telenor R&D established a project both aimed at technology, services and business models. This was further spurred when Telenor acquired the Swedish mobile company Europolitan, which contained parts of Vodafone's research capabilities in the area. As a result, two separate companies have been established: Telenor Connexion in Stockholm, Sweden^[31] (aiming higher up in the M2M value chain), and Telenor Objects (aiming further down in the value chain). The initiative has resulted in a substantial market share of Europe's fast-growing M2M market and is being used by Nissan in Europe to connect its customers' Electric Cars.^[32]

Broadcast

Telenor's wholly owned subsidiary Canal Digital is a leading TV content distributor in the Nordic region with about 2.7 million customers in 2011.^[33] On 13 April, 2021, the merger of Canal Digital and Viasat in Allente was completed.

Telenor also operates the national terrestrial broadcast network in Norway, through its subsidiary Norkring.

Thor is a family of satellites owned by Telenor. On 11 February, 2008, the THOR 5 satellite was launched into geostationary orbit. The launch was provided by International Launch Services using a Proton-M launch vehicle built by Khrunichev Space Center.^[34] Telenor operates three satellites from its satellite control centre at Fornebu (THOR5, THOR6 & THOR7)^{[citation needed]}

Former operations

Telenor has sold a number of divisions after its privatisation, including Bravida,^[35] the former installation division and Findexa, now part of Eniro that is responsible for telephone directories. The browser vendor Opera Software originated in Telenor's R&D department.^[36] Telenor formerly provided a range of services related to satellite communication, including voice, television and data before its Telenor Satellite Services division was purchased by Vizada in 2007.

Telenor has also previously been active in a number of international markets as a mobile phone network operator:

Country	Year of entry	Year of exit
Greece	1997	1999
Ireland	1997	1999
Germany	1997	2000
Slovakia	1998	2005
Czech Republic	1998	2005
Austria	1997	2007
India	2009	2017
Serbia	2006	2018
Montenegro	2004	2018
Bulgaria	2013	2018
Hungary	2002	2018
Russia	1994	2019
Ukraine	1998	2019
Myanmar	2014	2021

See also

• COMSAT mobile communications
• AeroMobile
• Opera Software ASA

References

1. "Annual Report 2021" (PDF). Telenor. pp. 3, 74, 76. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
2. Kristoffersen, Gjert (2007), The Phonology of Norwegian, Oxford University Press, p. 20, ISBN 978-0-19-823765-5
3. Global presence - Telenor website. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
4. "Oslo Børs All Shares". Oslo Bors. Oslo Børs. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
5. Pryser, Tore (1999) Norsk Historie 1814-1860, volume four of Norsk historie. Det Norske Samlaget, Oslo ISBN 82-521-5184-1
6. . Archived from the original on 2006-08-23. Retrieved 2006-08-23.
7. . Archived from the original on 2006-08-19. Retrieved 2006-08-27.
8. Sengupta, Debjoy (9 December 2010). "Opera is the oldest browser, and it is still surviving: Jon Tetzchner, founder, Opera software". The Economic Times.
9. "Telenor and Huawei Conduct Successful Test of 5G with 70 Gbps Speeds". 20 November 2021.
10. Valderhaug, Roar (2000-12-04). "Telenor på børs til bunnpris" [Telenor on the stock exchange at a base price]. Aftenposten. pp. 23 Økonomi. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
11. . Archived from the original on 2015-09-12. Retrieved 2014-11-18.
12. Dagenborg, Joachim; Knudsen, Camilla (21 March 2018). "Norway's Telenor exits central Europe with $3.4 billion asset sale to Czech investor PPF". reuters.com. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
13. Reuters
14. "Axiata, Telenor and Digi Sign Transaction Agreements for the Proposed Merger of Celcom and Digi". Axiata. 21 June 2021. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
15. "Axiata and Telenor in Advanced Discussions to Merge Celcom and Digi". Axiata. 8 April 2021. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
16. "Axiata, Telenor, Digi sign agreements to merge Malaysian mobile ops". The Star. 21 June 2021. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
17. Axiata shareholders approve proposed Celcom-Digi merger
18. Digi gets shareholders' green light for proposed merger with Celcom
19. Axiata, Telenor complete Celcom-Digi merger
20. Axiata, Telenor announce completion of Celcom-Digi merger
21. Axiata and Telenor Announce the Successful Completion of the Celcom and Digi Merger
22. Historic merger marks new chapter in Malaysia’s digitalisation journey: “We are in pole position.”
23. "A deep dive into the TRUE/DTAC merger in Thailand". Yozzo.com. Retrieved 2022-01-06.
24. Thai telecoms regulator allows $7.3bn True-DTAC merger
25. เปิดไทม์ไลน์ “TRUE-DTAC” เดินหน้าควบรวมกิจการสินทรัพย์ 8 แสนล้าน หลัง บอร์ด กสทช. ไฟเขียว ลือสะพัดชื่อบริษัทใหม่“TRUE-D” (in Thai)
26. Explainer: True-Dtac merger deal born after 9 months
27. “ทรู-ดีแทค” ยกเลิกรับซื้อหุ้นคืน เดินหน้าควบรวมต่อ ตั้งเป้าเสร็จไตรมาส 1/66 (in Thai)
28. Court keeps True, DTAC merger on track
29. DTAC-TRUE กอดคอวิ่ง! รับแผนควบรวมฉลุย จับตา “หุ้นใหม่” เข้าเทรด 1 ก.พ.66 (in Thai)
30. DTAC-TRUE บวกสวนตลาด หลังควบรวมฯคืบหน้า โบรกฯแนะเก็งกำไร (in Thai)
31. "IoT solutions | 500+ networks 200+ countries". Telenor Connexion. Retrieved 2021-10-24.
32. "European Nissan Leaf gets always-on connection, lets you turn up the AC wirelessly".
33. Svensker vil kjøpe Canal Digital E24 Næringsliv. 1 September 2011. Retrieved 16 November 2013 (in Norwegian)
34. . ILS. Archived from the original on 2008-02-26.
35. Triton says sells Sweden's Bravida to Bain Capital Reuters, 12 May 2012. Retrieved 15 November 2013
36. Arild Færaas (26 May 2012) Amerikanske medier: Facebook vurderer å kjøpe opp Opera Aftenposten. Retrieved 16 November 2013 (in Norwegian)

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Telenor.

• Official website