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Telia Company AB is a Swedish multinational
telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...
company and
mobile network operator A mobile network operator (MNO), also known as a wireless service provider, wireless carrier, cellular company, or mobile network carrier, is a provider of wireless communications services that owns or controls all the elements necessary to sell ...
present in Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Telia also owns
TV4 Media TV4 Media AB (formerly Bonnier Broadcasting AB) is a Swedish media holding company which is currently a part of the Swedish telecommunications company Telia Company, having acquired it from Swedish multimedia conglomerate Bonnier Group. The comp ...
which includes TV4 in Sweden, MTV Oy in Finland, and
C More Entertainment C More Entertainment AB is a pay television company that previously operated as Canal+. It targets Nordic countries and has a separate channel in Sweden (C More Film). The main competitors of C More Entertainment are Viasat Film and Viasat Sp ...
after acquiring them in 2019. The company is headquartered in
Solna Solna Municipality ( sv, Solna kommun or , ) is a municipality in Stockholm County in Sweden, located just north of Stockholm City Centre. Its seat is located in the town of Solna, which is a part of the Stockholm urban area. Solna is one of t ...
and its stock is traded on the
Stockholm Stock Exchange Nasdaq Stockholm, formerly known as the Stockholm Stock Exchange ( sv, Stockholmsbörsen), is a stock exchange located in Frihamnen, Stockholm, Sweden. Founded in 1863, it has become the primary securities exchange of the Nordic countries. As o ...
and on the
Helsinki Stock Exchange The Nasdaq Helsinki, formerly known as the Helsinki Stock Exchange ( fi, Helsingin Pörssi, sv, Helsingforsbörsen), is a stock exchange located in Helsinki, Finland. Since 3 September 2003, it has been part of Nasdaq Nordic (previously called ...
.


History

Telia Company in its current form was first established as TeliaSonera, as the result of a 2002
merger Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...
between the Swedish and Finnish telecommunications companies, Telia and Sonera. This merger followed three years after Telia's failed merger attempt with
Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...
telecommunications company
Telenor Telenor ASA ( or ) 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, ...
, now its chief competitor in the Nordic countries. Before
privatisation Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...
, Telia was a state telephone
monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...
. Sonera, on the other hand, had a monopoly only on trunk network calls, while most (c. 75%) of local telecommunication was provided by telephone cooperatives. The separate brands Telia and Sonera continued to be used in the Swedish and Finnish markets respectively until March 2017 when Sonera was rebranded to Telia. Of the
stock In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especially AmE'' one of the shares into which ownership of a company ...
, 39.5% (31 March 2020) is owned by the
Swedish government The Government of the Kingdom of Sweden ( sv, Konungariket Sveriges regering) is the national cabinet of Sweden, and the country's executive authority. The Government consists of the Prime Ministerappointed and dismissed by the Speaker of the R ...
, and the rest by institutions, companies, and private investors worldwide. The
Finnish government sv, Finlands statsråd , border = , image = File:Finnish Government logo.png , image_size = 250 , caption = , date = , state = Republic of Finland , polity = , coun ...
(through
Solidium Solidium Oy is a Finnish state-owned investment company. Founded in 1991, Solidium's original purpose was to manage the property of SKOP Bank (''Säästöpankkien Keskus-Osake-Pankki''; fi), which went bankrupt in the early 1990s recession. In 2 ...
) divested from Telia Company in February 2018 when it sold its remaining 3.2% stake.


Telia

The Swedish Kungl. Telegrafverket (literally: ''Royal Telegraph Agency'') was founded in 1853, when the first electric
telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...
line was established between Stockholm and
Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...
. Allmänna Telefon found an equipment supplier in Lars Magnus
Ericsson (lit. "Telephone Stock Company of LM Ericsson"), commonly known as Ericsson, is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm. The company sells infrastructure, software, and services in informat ...
. In this early competition, Telegrafverket with its brand Rikstelefon was a latecomer. However, by securing a national monopoly on long-distance telephone lines, it was able with time to control and take over the local networks of quickly growing private telephone companies. A
de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...
telephone monopoly position was reached around 1920, and never needed legal sanction. In 1953 the name was modernised to Televerket. On 1 July 1992 this huge government agency's regulating functions was split off into the
Swedish Post and Telecom Authority The Swedish Post and Telecom Authority ( sv, Post- och telestyrelsen, abbreviated PTS) is a government authority under the Ministry of Infrastructure (Sweden) and is managed by a board of directors appointed by the Swedish government. The Director- ...
( sv, Post- och telestyrelsen, PTS), with similar functions as the
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
of the United States. The operation of the state radio and TV broadcast network was spun off into a company named
Teracom Teracom Group AB is a Swedish state-owned company that delivers information and communication services aimed at operators of essential functions within the Swedish civilian and military systems. Teracom was established in 1992 as a spin-off from ...
. On 1 July 1993 the remaining telephone and mobile network operator was transformed into a government-owned shareholding company, named Telia AB. At the height of the
dot-com bubble The dot-com bubble (dot-com boom, tech bubble, or the Internet bubble) was a stock market bubble in the late 1990s, a period of massive growth in the use and adoption of the Internet. Between 1995 and its peak in March 2000, the Nasdaq Compo ...
, on 13 June 2000, close to one-third of Telia's shares were introduced on the
Stockholm Stock Exchange Nasdaq Stockholm, formerly known as the Stockholm Stock Exchange ( sv, Stockholmsbörsen), is a stock exchange located in Frihamnen, Stockholm, Sweden. Founded in 1863, it has become the primary securities exchange of the Nordic countries. As o ...
. In the 1980s, Televerket was a pioneering mobile network operator with the NMT system, followed in the 1990s by
GSM The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to describe the protocols for second-generation ( 2G) digital cellular networks used by mobile devices such ...
. Private competition in analogue mobile phone systems had already broken the telephone monopoly, and the growing
internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
allowed more opportunities for competitors. The most important of Telia's Swedish competitors in these areas has been
Tele2 Tele2 AB is a Swedish telecommunications operator headquartered in the Kista Science City, Stockholm, Sweden. It is a major telephone operator in Sweden, Russia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Tele2 also has a 25% share in T-Mobile Netherland ...
. When PTS awarded four licenses for the 3rd generation mobile networks in December 2000, Telia was not among the winners, but later established an agreement to build a 3G network jointly with Tele2 using Tele2's licence. SUNAB was founded as the jointly owned company that would in turn build, own and operate the joint 3G network. In December 2018, Telia in cooperation with
Ericsson (lit. "Telephone Stock Company of LM Ericsson"), commonly known as Ericsson, is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm. The company sells infrastructure, software, and services in informat ...
launched Sweden's first 5G network at
KTH Royal Institute of Technology The KTH Royal Institute of Technology ( sv, Kungliga Tekniska högskolan, lit=Royal Institute of Technology), abbreviated KTH, is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden. KTH conducts research and education in engineering and technolog ...
in
Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
.


Sonera

The history of
Sonera Telia Company AB is a Swedish multinational telecommunications company and mobile network operator present in Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Telia also owns TV4 Media which includes TV4 in Sweden, MTV Oy in F ...
dates back to 1917, when Suomen Lennätinlaitos (Finnish Telegraph Agency) was founded. In 1927, the telegraph agency was merged with the Finnish Post to form a new agency, Post and Telegraph Agency. This agency governed all long distance and international calls until 1994, when competitors were allowed to enter the Finnish market. In the same year, the Post and Telegraph Agency was divided to form two companies,
Suomen Posti Oy Posti Group Oyj (previously Suomen Posti during 1994–2007 and Itella during 2007–2015), trading internationally as Posti Group Corporation, is the main Finnish postal service delivering mail and parcels in Finland. The State of Finland is t ...
(Finnish Post), and Telecom Finland Oy. Telecom Finland then changed its name to Sonera in 1998.


After the merger of Telia and Sonera

During the run-up to the 2006 general election the Swedish liberal-conservative
Alliance An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
stated as one of its policy aims to reduce government ownership in commercial entities, and specifically to sell its stake in TeliaSonera. The Alliance went on to win the election and formed a
coalition government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...
. After the merger with Sonera, the Swedish State held 46% of the shares and with parliamentary approval the government sold down to 37.3%. Further divestment of TeliaSonera was however presented to the parliament only after the next election in 2010, when the Alliance lost its majority but stayed on as a minority administration. On 16 March 2011 the Alliance administration lost a parliamentary vote on sale of publicly owned commercial entities, including TeliaSonera, when a coalition of all opposition parties - the Left Party,
Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...
,
Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...
and
Sweden Democrats The Sweden Democrats ( sv , Sverigedemokraterna ; SD ) is a nationalist and right-wing populist political party in Sweden. As of 2022, it is the largest member of Sweden's right-wing governing bloc to which it provides confidence and supply, a ...
- united against the Alliance. In the beginning of 2008, TeliaSonera announced measures to save nearly 500 million
Euros The euro (symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . T ...
which would include 2900 redundancies: 2000 from Sweden and 900 from Finland. France Télécom (now
Orange S.A. Orange S.A. (), formerly France Télécom S.A. (stylized as france telecom) is a French multinational telecommunications corporation. It has 266 million customers worldwide and employs 89,000 people in France, and 59,000 elsewhere. In 2015, ...
) proposed a 33
billion Billion is a word for a large number, and it has two distinct definitions: *1,000,000,000, i.e. one thousand million, or (ten to the ninth power), as defined on the short scale. This is its only current meaning in English. * 1,000,000,000,000, i.e ...
Euro acquisition offer for TeliaSonera on 5 June 2008, which was promptly rejected by the company's board. On 12 April 2016, the company was renamed to Telia Company, dropping the Sonera part, rebranding the company to aid recover after bribery and money laundering allegations. On 20 July 2018, Telia Company announced the acquisition proposal of Bonnier Broadcasting Group from
Bonnier Group Bonnier AB (), also the Bonnier Group, is a privately held Swedish media group of 175 companies operating in 15 countries. It is controlled by the Bonnier family. Background The company was founded in 1804 by Gerhard Bonnier in Copenhagen, Denm ...
for 9.2 billion SEK (roughly $1 billion), thus owning
TV4 AB TV4 AB (formerly Nordisk Television AB; previously traded as ) is a Swedish media company owned by Telia Company through TV4 Media (formerly known as Bonnier Broadcasting). The company owns the largest commercial television channel in Sweden, ...
(commercial television broadcaster in Sweden),
MTV Oy MTV Oy (formerly Oy Mainos-TV-Reklam Ab) is a Finnish media company owned by Telia Company through TV4 Media (formerly known as Bonnier Broadcasting). The company owns the largest commercial television channel in Finland, MTV3. On 20 July 2 ...
(commercial television broadcaster in Finland) and
C More Entertainment C More Entertainment AB is a pay television company that previously operated as Canal+. It targets Nordic countries and has a separate channel in Sweden (C More Film). The main competitors of C More Entertainment are Viasat Film and Viasat Sp ...
(pan-Nordic operator of premium television channels). The
European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...
approved the deal on 12 November 2019 with certain conditions, and the acquisition was completed on 2 December that year. Ahead of the completion of Bonnier Broadcasting deal, the Telia Company nomination committee proposed on 20 October 2019 that Marie Ehrling be succeeded by Lars-Johan Jarnheimer, the former
CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
of
Tele2 Tele2 AB is a Swedish telecommunications operator headquartered in the Kista Science City, Stockholm, Sweden. It is a major telephone operator in Sweden, Russia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Tele2 also has a 25% share in T-Mobile Netherland ...
until 2008 and then-chair of Egmont Media, as the company's board chair. The proposal was approved on 26 November that year, following the
extraordinary general meeting An extraordinary general meeting, commonly abbreviated as EGM, is a meeting of members of an organisation, shareholders of a company, or employees of an official body that occurs at an irregular time.' The term is usually used where the group wou ...
. Meanwhile, on 24 October, Telia Company appointed Allison Kirkby, the former CEO of Tele2 from 2015 until 2018 and then went on to become the president and CEO of TDC, as the company's new president and CEO. Kirkby assumed office on 4 May 2020. On 6 October 2020, Telia Company agreed to sell its
Internet backbone The Internet backbone may be defined by the principal data routes between large, strategically interconnected computer networks and core routers of the Internet. These data routes are hosted by commercial, government, academic and other high-ca ...
unit
Telia Carrier Arelion, formerly named Telia Carrier and TeliaSonera International Carrier (TSIC), is a provider of telecommunication services based in Solna, Sweden. Since 2021, the name Twelve99 is also used in technical contexts. Arelion is a tier 1 network ...
to Polhem Infra for roughly US$1 billion. The sale was completed on 1 June 2021.


Operations

Telia Company is the largest Nordic and
Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages * Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originati ...
fixed-voice,
broadband In telecommunications, broadband is wide bandwidth data transmission which transports multiple signals at a wide range of frequencies and Internet traffic types, that enables messages to be sent simultaneously, used in fast internet connections. ...
, and mobile operator by revenue and customer base. It also owns a TV-media operation which includes TV4 in Sweden and MTV in Finland as well as C More.
Telia mobile telephone business in Europe:
(Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Sweden) Leader company.
(Finland, Norway) second company.
(Denmark) third company.


Denmark

In Denmark Telia Company operates a mobile operator (Telia), a
mobile virtual network operator A mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) is a wireless communications services provider that does not own the wireless network infrastructure over which it provides services to its customers. An MVNO enters into a business agreement with a mobil ...
(Call Me), and a broadband supplier (Telia). The company started in 1995, the result of a merger between Telia Stofa and TeliaSonera. Telia Mobile is the third-largest operator and is in fierce competition with Telenor, which is number two in the market. Telia was the fourth operator to launch 3G services and is the only operator to have a nationwide EDGE network. Telia Broadband was relaunched in 2008 because of the need for TeliaSonera to offer both mobile and broadband in all of their home markets (Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland). Telia Broadband was the first operator to launch digital TV with their broadband at no extra cost. Stofa is mainly a cable TV operator, but also supplies broadband via the cable TV network.


Estonia

Telia Company owns 100% of
Eesti Telekom Telia Eesti AS (formerly AS Eesti Telekom) is one of the largest telecommunication companies in the Baltic states, Baltic States and member of Telia Company. AS Eesti Telekom is a holding company registered and operating in the Republic of Estoni ...
. Eesti Telekom is one of the largest telecommunication companies in the Baltic countries and the largest telecommunications company in Estonia. TeliaSonera and the Estonian government reached a deal over the sale of Eesti Telekom in September 2009. On 20 January 2016, Eesti Telekom switched its name to
Telia Eesti Telia Eesti AS (formerly AS Eesti Telekom) is one of the largest telecommunication companies in the Baltic States and member of Telia Company. AS Eesti Telekom is a holding company registered and operating in the Republic of Estonia, whose sub ...
.


Finland

Telia Finland is the second largest mobile operator in Finland and also one of the biggest providers of landline telephone and internet services. Before the rebranding on 23 March 2017, Telia was known in Finland under the brands of Sonera and Tele Finland. In September 1999, Sonera became the world's first mobile operator to launch mobile Internet services via
Wireless Application Protocol Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is a technical standard for accessing information over a mobile wireless network. A WAP browser is a web browser for mobile devices such as mobile phones that use the protocol. Introduced in 1999, WAP achieve ...
(WAP). Since 2014, Telia Finland and
DNA Oyj DNA Oyj (DNA Plc) is a Finnish telecommunications group that provides voice, data and TV services. In December 2020, it had over 3.5 million subscription customers. 2.7 million of the customers were using a mobile network and 0.9 million were usi ...
have jointly deployed a
shared Shared may refer to: * Sharing * Shared ancestry or Common descent * Shared care * Shared-cost service * Shared decision-making in medicine * Shared delusion (disambiguation), Shared delusion, various meanings * Shared government * Shared intellig ...
4G LTE network using the 800 MHz (LTE Band 20) "
digital dividend The digital dividend refers to the radio spectrum which is released in the process of digital television transition. When television broadcasters switch from analog TV to digital-only platforms, part of the electromagnetic spectrum that has b ...
" band in remote Northern and Eastern Finland under the ''Suomen Yhteisverkko Oy''
joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...
. Telia Finland owns 51% of ''Suomen Yhteisverkko Oy''.


Latvia

TeliaSonera owns 49% of LMT (24.5% as Telia Company AB and 24.5% as Sonera Holding B.V.). TeliaSonera also owns 49% of
Lattelecom Tet (styled as tet, previously Lattelekom and Lattelecom) is a Latvian internet service provider, telecommunications, technology and entertainment company. Since 2017, it also is an electricity service provider. The Tet Group provides IT, tele ...
, which owns 23% of LMT, which owns ''Okarte'', ''Amigo''. It also owns 100% of Telia Latvija, a business cable operator and data centre operator.


Lithuania

TeliaSonera owns 88.15% of
Telia Lietuva Telia Lietuva, a member of Telia Company group, is one of the largest telecommunication companies in the Baltic States. History Founded in 1991 by Juozas Kazickas as Litcom, Omnitel was Lithuania's first private telecommunications company. In ...
(Teo LT until 2017), the largest landline phone operator in
Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
, which recently purchased
Omnitel Telia Lietuva, a member of Telia Company group, is one of the largest telecommunication companies in the Baltic States. History Founded in 1991 by Juozas Kazickas as Litcom, Omnitel was Lithuania's first private telecommunications company. In ...
, one of largest mobile network operators there. It was previously owned by TeliaSonera group. In October 2015, TeliaSonera announced the merger of Teo and Omnitel, through the acquisition of Omnitel by Teo. On 1 February 2017, Omnitel and Teo merged under the name of "
Telia Lietuva Telia Lietuva, a member of Telia Company group, is one of the largest telecommunication companies in the Baltic States. History Founded in 1991 by Juozas Kazickas as Litcom, Omnitel was Lithuania's first private telecommunications company. In ...
".


Norway

In Norway, Telia first entered after the de-regulation in 1998 as a virtual supplier of fixed telephone and Internet services. This was sold to Enitel during the merger attempt with Telenor, but Telia re-entered in 2000 with the purchase of one of the two mobile network operators, NetCom. In 2006 it also bought the virtual mobile provider
Chess Communication Chess Communication was a Norwegian mobile virtual network operator (MVNO). Owned by Telia Company it uses its sister company Telia Norge's (formerly NetCom) network. History The company was founded by A-Pressen in 1999 but sold to Idar Vollv ...
. 1 March 2016, NetCom was rebranded as
Telia Norge Telia Norge AS, formerly NetCom AS, is a Norwegian mobile phone operator. Founded in 1993, it is the second largest mobile phone operator in Norway. The company has about 1.641 million subscribers (April 2013), and the company headquarters are l ...
. In July 2018, Telia acquired
Get AS Get AS was a Norwegian cable-TV operator and internet service provider. Get had its head office in Oslo, with local offices in Drammen, Greåker, Arendal, Kristiansand, Stavanger, Haugesund, Bergen, Trondheim and Stjørdal. Today, Telia operates ...
and TDC Norway for $2.6 billion.


Sweden

In Sweden, Telia Company operates under the consumer brands Telia and its lower-cost
flanker brands In marketing, a fighter brand (sometimes called a fighting brand or a flanker brand) is a lower-priced offering launched by a company to take on, and ideally take out, specific competitors that are attempting to under-price them. Unlike traditional ...
Halebop and Fello. On the business side, Skanova Access and Cygate are also used. Telia Sverige is currently the largest mobile phone operator in Sweden, both in terms of revenue and customer base. Main competitors include
Tele2 Tele2 AB is a Swedish telecommunications operator headquartered in the Kista Science City, Stockholm, Sweden. It is a major telephone operator in Sweden, Russia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Tele2 also has a 25% share in T-Mobile Netherland ...
,
Telenor Telenor ASA ( or ) 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, ...
, 3,
Allente Allente is a Nordic TV distributor that offers TV solutions via satellite TV and IPTV, to 1.2 million customers in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. In addition, the company offers streaming services, as well as IPTV solutions and fiber bro ...
and
Boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: * Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...
.


Former operations

Telia has been selling off its shares in companies outside of its main region of business.


Afghanistan

In July 2020, Telia Company announced it has divested its 12.25% share in the Afghan
Roshan (telco) Roshan ( fa, روشن) is an Afghan telecommunications provider, serving over six million active subscribers. History In January 2003, Roshan was awarded the second GSM license in Afghanistan, at a time when there was only one other mobile pho ...
cellphone network.


Azerbaijan

On 15 May 2010, after
Azercell Azercell is an Azerbaijani telecommunications company based in Baku. It is the largest Mobile network operator, mobile network operator in Azerbaijan. Company background Azercell Telecom LLC was established on 19 January 1996. Azercell Tele ...
went through rebranding, it joined the network of TeliaSonera. On 5 March 2018, Telia confirmed they have sold their stake in Azercell.


Cambodia

TeliaSonera purchased a majority stake in Star-Cell in 2008 which was the number four player in the market at that time. By 2010 it exited Cambodia after a $100 million write down and collapse in subscriber numbers. It was subsequently taken over by a more dominant competitor Smart Mobile.


Georgia

From 2007 to 2018, Telia Company has owned 58.55% of the
Geocell Geocell ( ka, ჯეოსელი) is a mobile communication brand owned by Silknet. Geocell is the first GSM operator entered Georgian market. Geocell was founded as an independent company in 1996 with a shared Georgian and Turkish investm ...
company, while
Turkcell Turkcell İletişim Hizmetleri A.Ş. (''lit. Turkcell Communication Services'') (, ) is the leading mobile phone operator of Turkey, based in Istanbul. The company has 39,3 million subscribers as of September 2021. In 2015, the company's number of ...
owns the remaining 41.45%. Since 2018
Silknet Silknet JSC ( ka, სილქნეტი) is a telecommunication company in Georgia, and a subsidiary of Silk Road Group. Silknet delivers various telecom services to more than one million customers across the whole country. Silknet is the larg ...
bought full part of Geocell.


Kazakhstan

Telia Company operated in Kazakhstan under the brand
Kcell Kcell (KASE: KCEL) is the Cellular Communication Operator in Kazakhstan, part of Kazakhtelecom. The company was founded in 1998 and provides cellular services under the Kcell brand, which is mainly focused on the corporate segment, and Activ, ...
. From 21 December 2018, Kcell sold to Kazakhtelecom.


Moldova

In February 2020 Telia Company agreed to sell its 100% holding in Moldcell to CG Cell Technologies DAC, for a transaction price of US$31.5 million.


Nepal

TeliaSonera owned a majority stake in
Ncell Ncell Axiata Limited (previously Ncell Private Limited) ( ne, एनसेल आजियाटा) is a mobile service provider from Nepal. Ncell is Nepal's second largest telecommunications company, after Nepal Telecom. The company was found ...
, the largest mobile operator in
Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...
with US$16.2 billion operating income. On 21 December 2015, TeliaSonera announced its exit from Ncell, selling its 60.4 percent of the shares to Malaysian telecommunications group
Axiata Axiata Group Berhad, commonly known as Axiata, formerly known as TM International Berhad, is a Malaysian multinational telecommunications conglomerate with extensive operations in Asia. The group Axiata's primary business is in investment h ...
. TeliaSonera exited Nepal without settling billions of Capital Gains Tax owed to Nepalese government.


Russia

Telia Company owned 25.2% of
MegaFon MegaFon (russian: МегаФон), previously known as North-West GSM, is the second largest mobile phone operator
, the second largest mobile phone operator in Russia. In October 2017 Telia Company agreed to sell their entire MegaFon stake for US$1 billion.


Spain

Telia Company owned a 76.6% holding in the Spanish operator
Yoigo Xfera Móviles, S.A.U., d/b/a Yoigo, is the fourth-largest mobile network operator in Spain and a subsidiary of the Spanish telecommunications company Grupo MásMóvil. Yoigo has a licence and its own cellular network for GSM/2G, UMTS/3G and LT ...
until 21 June 2016 when it was sold to Masmovil.


Tajikistan

Telia Company owned 60% of mobile phone operator
Tcell Tcell is a mobile network brand in Tajikistan, owned and operated by the Tajik company Indigo Tajikistan, owned by AKFED (Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development). The Tcell network offers mobile telephony and mobile internet services in Taji ...
. Tcell is a merger of Somoncom and Indigo Tajikistan; the merger was completed in July 2012. On 27 April 2017, it was confirmed that Tcell has been sold.


Turkey

In October 2020, Telia Company's divestment of its 47.1 percent stake in
Turkcell Turkcell İletişim Hizmetleri A.Ş. (''lit. Turkcell Communication Services'') (, ) is the leading mobile phone operator of Turkey, based in Istanbul. The company has 39,3 million subscribers as of September 2021. In 2015, the company's number of ...
Holding (which holds 51% in the listed leading mobile operator in Turkey) to the state owned
Turkey Wealth Fund Turkey Wealth Fund (TWF) ( Turkish: ''Türkiye Varlık Fonu, TVF'') is a $33 billion sovereign wealth fund founded in August 2016 owned by Government of Turkey. The fund is operated with "Strategic Investment Plan", which was approved by the Cabin ...
for US$530 million, was completed.


Uzbekistan

In five years, Ucell, the Uzbek subsidiary, increased the number of its subscribers from 400,000 to 9 million (2012). Some former TeliaSonera executives were under preliminary investigation by Swedish prosecutors for allegations of bribery and money laundering associated with the acquisition of their 3G license in Uzbekistan from Takilant Limited, registered in Gibraltar. Under these investigations involving four Uzbek nationals, hundreds of millions of francs were frozen in Swiss banks. The former executives were acquitted in the first instance in the Swedish legal proceedings in February 2019, the verdict has been appealed. In September 2017 Telia Company announced that a global settlement had been reached with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Dutch Public Prosecution Service (Openbaar Ministerie, OM) relating to previously disclosed investigations regarding historical transactions in Uzbekistan. The global resolution ended all known corruption related investigations or inquiries into Telia Company.


Evolution of the Telia brand

When Telia and Sonera merged in 2002, TeliaSonera used a simple
wordmark __notoc__ A wordmark, word mark, or logotype, is usually a distinct text-only typographic treatment of the name of a company, institution, or product name used for purposes of identification and branding. Examples can be found in the graphic iden ...
as the logo. In 2011, TeliaSonera released its new purple pebble logo to the corporation and its affiliate brands. The pebble was designed by
Landor Associates Landor is a brand consulting firm founded in 1941 by Walter Landor, who pioneered some research, design, and consulting methods that the branding industry still uses. Headquartered in San Francisco, the company maintains 26 offices in 20 count ...
. In 2016, TeliaSonera changed name to Telia Company and presented an updated pebble brand profile, designed by
Wolff Olins Wolff Olins is a British advertising agency and corporate identity consultancy. It was started in 1965 and has offices in London, New York City and San Francisco. It now employs some 150 designers, strategists, technologists, programme managers ...
, to be used by all Telia brand companies.


Controversies

TeliaSonera has been accused of indirectly supporting dictatorships, allowing them to do
man-in-the-middle attack In cryptography and computer security, a man-in-the-middle, monster-in-the-middle, machine-in-the-middle, monkey-in-the-middle, meddler-in-the-middle, manipulator-in-the-middle (MITM), person-in-the-middle (PITM) or adversary-in-the-middle (AiTM) ...
s on their citizens. This was disclosed in the Swedish TV show Uppdrag Granskning in 2012. TeliaSonera responded to these allegations with: "This is happening every day in all countries and applies to all operators. We are obliged to comply with the legislation of each country." Further allegations have been presented in Swedish media and elsewhere that TeliaSonera may have illegally, through bribery, acquired licenses in Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan. As a result of internal investigations on these and other potential violations to the company's policies, several senior managers were dismissed from the company. When TeliaSonera exited Nepal there were voices raised in the public debate in Nepal that it had evaded approximately 36 billions of Nepalese Rupees Capital Gains Tax owed to Nepalese government, when it sold its stake to Axiata, a Malaysian Telecom Group, a claim which has been refuted by Telia Company on several occasions. In that context, Telia was criticized by media (TV) even in Sweden where its headquarters is located. Also, a group of Nepalese people started a movement 'No Tax.. No Ncell' to boycott the services of Ncell in Nepal.


See also

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List of Finnish companies Finland is a sovereign state in Northern Europe. It was a relative latecomer to industrialization, remaining a largely agrarian country until the 1950s. It rapidly developed an advanced economy while building an extensive Nordic-style welfare ...
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List of Swedish companies Sweden is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe and the third-largest country in the European Union by area. It is also a member of the United Nations, the Nordic Council, Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization and the Organisation f ...
*
Telia Carrier Arelion, formerly named Telia Carrier and TeliaSonera International Carrier (TSIC), is a provider of telecommunication services based in Solna, Sweden. Since 2021, the name Twelve99 is also used in technical contexts. Arelion is a tier 1 network ...


References


External links

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Yahoo! - TeliaSonera AB Company Profile

TeliaSonera CDN
{{Authority control Mobile phone companies of Sweden Internet service providers of Sweden Telecommunications companies established in 2003 2003 establishments in Sweden Telecommunications monopolies Companies listed on Nasdaq Helsinki Partly privatized companies of Finland Partly privatized companies of Sweden Companies based in Solna Municipality Companies listed on Nasdaq Stockholm Multinational companies headquartered in Sweden