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Telia Company AB is a Swedish multinational
telecommunications Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...
company and
mobile network operator A mobile network operator (MNO), also known as a mobile network provider, mobile network carrier, mobile , wireless service provider, wireless carrier, wireless operator, wireless telco, or cellular company, is a telecommunications provider of se ...
present in Sweden, Finland, Norway, 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 co ...
which includes TV4 in Sweden, MTV Oy in Finland, and
C More Entertainment C More Entertainment AB was a pay television company that previously operated as Canal+. It targeted Nordic countries and had a separate channel in Sweden (C More Film). The main competitors of C More Entertainment were Viasat Film and Vias ...
after acquiring them in 2019. The company is headquartered in
Solna Solna ( or , ), also known as Solna Municipality, is a municipality in central Stockholm County, 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 i ...
and its stock is traded on the
Stockholm Stock Exchange Nasdaq Stockholm, formerly known as the Stockholm Stock Exchange (), is a stock exchange located in Frihamnen, Stockholm, Sweden. Founded in 1863, it has become the primary securities exchange of the Nordic countries. As of March 2021, a total ...
and on the
Helsinki Stock Exchange Nasdaq Helsinki, formerly known as the Helsinki Stock Exchange (, ), is a stock exchange located in Helsinki, Finland. Since 3 September 2003, it has been part of Nasdaq Nordic (previously called ''OMX''). After the OMX merger, it was referred t ...
. The company has been linked to corruption scandals in its dealings with the regimes in Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan. Telia's bribery scandal in relation to the
Ilham Aliyev Ilham Heydar Oghlu Aliyev (born 24 December 1961) is an Azerbaijani politician who has been the fourth president of Azerbaijan since 2003. He is also the leader of the New Azerbaijan Party since 2005. The son and second child of former Aze ...
regime in Azerbaijan has been described as "possibly the largest bribery in Swedish history."


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 a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...
between the Swedish and Finnish telecommunications companies, Telia and Sonera. This merger followed three years after Telia's failed merger attempt with Norwegian 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 worldwi ...
, now its chief competitor in the Nordic countries. Before
privatisation Privatization (rendered 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 w ...
, Telia was a state telephone
monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic Competition (economics), competition to produce ...
. 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 Stocks (also capital stock, or sometimes interchangeably, shares) consist of all the Share (finance), shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided. A single share of the stock means fractional ownership of the corporatio ...
, 39.5% (31 March 2020) is owned by the
Swedish government The Government of the Kingdom of Sweden () is the national cabinet of Sweden, and the country's executive authority. The Government consists of the Prime Minister and their cabinet ministers (). The Government is responsible for its actions ...
, and the rest by institutions, companies, and private investors worldwide. The
Finnish government The Finnish Government (; ; ) is the executive branch and cabinet of Finland, which directs the politics of Finland and is the main source of legislation proposed to the Parliament. The Government has collective ministerial responsibility an ...
(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 ...
) 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 ...
line was established between Stockholm and
Uppsala Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital 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 inhabitants in 2019. Loc ...
. Allmänna Telefon found an equipment supplier in Lars Magnus
Ericsson (), commonly known as Ericsson (), is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. Ericsson has been a major contributor to the development of the telecommunications industry and is one ...
. 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 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 (, abbreviated PTS) is a Government agencies in Sweden, government authority under the Ministry of Infrastructure (Sweden) and is managed by a board of directors appointed by the Swedish government. The Dire ...
(, PTS), with similar functions as the
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...
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 fr ...
. 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 (or dot-com boom) was a stock market bubble that ballooned during the late-1990s and peaked on Friday, March 10, 2000. This period of market growth coincided with the widespread adoption of the World Wide Web and the Interne ...
, 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 (), is a stock exchange located in Frihamnen, Stockholm, Sweden. Founded in 1863, it has become the primary securities exchange of the Nordic countries. As of March 2021, a total ...
. In the 1980s, Televerket was a pioneering mobile network operator with the
NMT NMT may refer to: Science and technology * Nordic Mobile Telephone, an analogue mobile phone system * Neurologic Music Therapy * Neural machine translation * Neuromyotonia, a form of peripheral nerve hyperexcitability * Network management protoco ...
system, followed in the 1990s by
GSM The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a family of standards to describe the protocols for second-generation (2G) digital cellular networks, as used by mobile devices such as mobile phones and Mobile broadband modem, mobile broadba ...
. Private competition in analogue mobile phone systems had already broken the telephone monopoly, and the growing
internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...
allowed more opportunities for competitors. The most important of Telia's Swedish competitors in these areas has been
Tele2 Tele2 AB is a provider of mobile and fixed connectivity, telephony, data network services, TV, streaming and global Internet of things services, amongst others, to consumers and enterprises. It is headquartered in Kista Science City, Stockholm, ...
. 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 (), commonly known as Ericsson (), is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. Ericsson has been a major contributor to the development of the telecommunications industry and is one ...
launched Sweden's first 5G network at
KTH Royal Institute of Technology KTH Royal Institute of Technology (), abbreviated KTH, is a Public university, public research university in Stockholm, Sweden. KTH conducts research and education in Institute of technology, engineering and technology and is Sweden's largest te ...
in
Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...
.


Sonera

The history of
Sonera Telia Company AB is a Swedish Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications company and mobile network operator present in Sweden, Finland, Norway, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Telia also owns TV4 Media which includes TV4 in S ...
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 Group (previously during 1994–2007 and 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 the sole shareholder of th ...
(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 sovereign state, states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an a ...
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, or coalition cabinet, is a government by political parties that enter into a power-sharing arrangement of the executive. Coalition governments usually occur when no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an ...
. 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 Form ...
,
Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...
and
Sweden Democrats The Sweden Democrats ( , SD ) is a Nationalism, nationalist and Right-wing populism, right-wing populist political party in Sweden founded in 1988. As of 2024, it is the largest member of Sweden's Right-wing politics, right-wing bloc and the sec ...
— united against the Alliance. In the beginning of 2008, TeliaSonera announced measures to save nearly 500 million
euros The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...
which would include 2,900 redundancies: 2,000 from Sweden and 900 from Finland. France Télécom (now
Orange S.A. Orange S.A. (; formerly , stylised as france telecom) is a French multinational telecommunications corporation founded in 1988 and headquartered in Issy-les-Moulineaux, near Paris. ''Orange'' has been the corporation's main brand for mobile, ...
) 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 now the most common sense of the word in all varieties of ...
euro acquisition offer for TeliaSonera on 5 June 2008, which was promptly rejected by the company's board. On 12 April 2016, the company changed its name to Telia Company, dropping the Sonera part, rebranding the company to aid recovery 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 company, privately held Swedish media conglomerate, media group of 175 companies operating in 15 countries. It is controlled by the Bonnier family. Background The company was founded in ...
for 9.2 billion SEK (roughly $1 billion), thus owning
TV4 AB TV4 AB (formerly Nordisk Television AB; previously Trade name, 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 ...
(commercial television broadcaster in Sweden),
MTV Oy MTV Osakeyhtiö, 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 ...
(commercial television broadcaster in Finland) and
C More Entertainment C More Entertainment AB was a pay television company that previously operated as Canal+. It targeted Nordic countries and had a separate channel in Sweden (C More Film). The main competitors of C More Entertainment were Viasat Film and Vias ...
(pan-Nordic operator of premium television channels). The
European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...
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 chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...
of
Tele2 Tele2 AB is a provider of mobile and fixed connectivity, telephony, data network services, TV, streaming and global Internet of things services, amongst others, to consumers and enterprises. It is headquartered in Kista Science City, Stockholm, ...
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 wo ...
. Meanwhile, on 24 October, Telia Company appointed
Allison Kirkby Allison Kirkby (born 1967) is a British businesswoman who has been the chief executive of BT Group since February 2024. She had earlier led the Swedish telecoms companies Tele2 and Telia, and the Danish company TDC. Early life and education K ...
, 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 is 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-capacity network ...
unit
Telia Carrier Arelion, formerly named Telia Carrier and TeliaSonera International Carrier (TSIC), is a provider of telecommunication services based in Solna, Sweden. Arelion is a tier 1 network provider, assigned Autonomous System number AS1299. Since 2021 ...
to Polhem Infra for roughly US$1 billion. The sale was completed on 1 June 2021. On 25 February 2025, Telia announced that it was selling its media division to in order to focus on its consumer division, the sale is scheduled to be completed by Q3 2025, pending regulatory approval.


Operations

Telia Company is the largest
Nordic Nordic most commonly refers to: * Nordic countries, the northern European countries of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, and their North Atlantic territories * Scandinavia, a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern ...
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 originatin ...
fixed-voice,
broadband In telecommunications, broadband or high speed is the wide-bandwidth (signal processing), bandwidth data transmission that exploits signals at a wide spread of frequencies or several different simultaneous frequencies, and is used in fast Inter ...
, 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: *Leader company -
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
,
Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...
and
Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, 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, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...
*Second company -
Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...
and
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...


Estonia

Telia Company owns 100% of Eesti Telekom. 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 subsi ...
.


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 an obsolete technical standard for accessing information over a mobile cellular network. Introduced in 1999, WAP allowed users with compatible mobile devices to browse content such as news, weather and sp ...
(WAP). Since 2014, Telia Finland and
DNA Oyj DNA Plc (natively ) is a Finnish telecommunications company. It was founded in 2000, and refounded in 2007 after a merger. DNA offers cellular phone services, FTTx, ADSL, terrestrial television (DVB-T/DVB-T2), cable television (DVB-C) and regu ...
have jointly deployed a shared 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 bee ...
" 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 acce ...
. Telia Finland owns 51% of ''Suomen Yhteisverkko Oy''.


Latvia

Telia Company owns 49% of LMT (24.5% as Telia Company AB and 24.5% as Sonera Holding B.V.) and 49% of Tet, which owns 23% of LMT. Telia Latvija, a business cable operator and data centre operator, was sold to Tet.


Lithuania

TeliaSonera owns 88.15% of
Telia Lietuva Telia Lietuva, a member of Telia Company, 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 telecommunicatio ...
(Teo LT until 2017), the largest landline phone operator in
Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, 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, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...
, which recently purchased Omnitel, 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, 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 telecommunicatio ...
".


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. On 1 March 2016, NetCom changed its name to
Telia Norge Telia Norge AS, formerly NetCom AS, is a Norwegian Telecommunications, Telecommunications Company. Founded in 1993, it is the second largest provider in Norway. The company has about 2,379 million mobile subscribers, and about 500,000 TV and bro ...
. In July 2018, Telia acquired
Get AS Get AS was a Norwegian cable television operator and internet service provider. Get had its head office in Oslo, with local offices in Drammen, Greåker, Arendal, Kristiansand, Stavanger, Haugesund, Bergen, Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; ) ...
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 traditiona ...
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 provider of mobile and fixed connectivity, telephony, data network services, TV, streaming and global Internet of things services, amongst others, to consumers and enterprises. It is headquartered in Kista Science City, Stockholm, ...
,
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 worldwi ...
, 3,
Allente Allente is a satellite television provider in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. The company is headquartered in Oslo and Stockholm and was established on 5 May 2020, as a result of a merger between Canal Digital and Viasat Consumer. The com ...
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


Afghanistan

In July 2020, Telia Company announced it has divested its 12.25% share in the Afghan
Roshan (telco) Roshan (, ) is a telecommunications development company located in Afghanistan. History Roshan was founded by Kari Khoja in 2002. In 2012, Roshan became the first and only company in Afghanistan to achieve B Corporation certification, awarded ...
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 in Azerbaijan. The company is owned by the ruling Aliyev family through offshore companies. In 2008, state shares were transferred ...
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.


Denmark

In Denmark, Telia Company operated 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. In 2014, Telia and Telenor announced their plan to merge and create a 50/50 joint-venture, but this fell through in 2015 after failed negotiations with the EU regulators. The two companies do operate a 50/50 joint-venture for their network infrastructure operations and spectrum holdings called ''TT-Netværket (''TT-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. Telia Company sold its operations and network assets in Denmark to Norlys a.m.b.a. (
Norlys Norlys, officially known as Norlys Holding A/S, is a Danish holding company owned by Norlys a.m.b.a. Its operations span the energy and telecommunications sectors. The company serves over 1.7 million customers and employs approximately 4,600 people ...
) at an enterprise value of DKK 6.25 billion, on a cash and debt-free basis on 2 April 2024.


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 investme ...
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 ...
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 lar ...
bought full part of Geocell.


Sri Lanka

From 1996 to 2010, Telia Company has owned 100% of SUNTEL Ltd. Since 2010
Dialog Axiata Dialog Axiata PLC (, ) (formerly known as MTN Networks and later Dialog Telekom), is one of Sri Lanka's largest telecommunications service providers, and the country's largest mobile network operator with over 17 million subscribers which amounts ...
bought full part of Suntel.


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 () is a mobile service provider from Nepal. It is Nepal's largest company in terms of revenue market share and second largest telecommunications company, after Nepal Telecom in terms of subscriber base. The company was founded in 2004 w ...
, the largest mobile operator in
Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...
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 investment ho ...
. TeliaSonera exited Nepal without settling billions of Capital Gains Tax owed to Nepalese government.


Russia

Telia Company owned 25.2% of
MegaFon MegaFon () is the second largest mobile phone operator"МегаФон" б ...
, 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., Trade name, d/b/a Yoigo, is a Spanish telecommunications company in Spain and a subsidiary of the Spanish telecommunications company :es:Grupo MásMóvil, Grupo MásMóvil, a subsidiary of MásOrange. Although it commerc ...
until 21 June 2016 when it was sold to Masmovil.


Tajikistan

Telia Company owned 60% of mobile phone operator Tcell. 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 ...
Holding (which holds 51% in the listed leading mobile operator in Turkey) to the state owned
Turkey Wealth Fund The Türkiye Wealth Fund (TWF; , TVF) is a sovereign wealth fund founded in August 2016 and owned by the Government of Turkey. As of 2023, TWF had over $317 billion in total assets. The fund is operated with a "Strategic Investment Plan", which w ...
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 A wordmark or word mark is a text-only statement of the name of a product, service, company, organization, or institution which is used for purposes of identification and branding. A wordmark can be an actual word (e.g., Apple), a made-up term ...
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 London, the company maintains 32 offices, including China, ...
. In 2016, TeliaSonera changed name to Telia Company and presented an updated pebble brand profile, designed by
Wolff Olins Wolff Olins is a global brand consultancy agency that specialises in corporate identity. It was founded in 1965 in London, where its main office is still based, as well as having offices in New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles. It emplo ...
, 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 (MITM) attack, or on-path attack, is a cyberattack where the attacker secretly relays and possibly alters the communications between two parties who believe that they are directly communi ...
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. Telia admitted to this bribery accusations and had to pay US$965 million in settlement in 2017. When TeliaSonera exited Nepal there were voices raised in the public debate in Nepal that it had evaded an approximately 36 billion
rupee Rupee (, ) is the common name for the currency, currencies of Indian rupee, India, Mauritian rupee, Mauritius, Nepalese rupee, Nepal, Pakistani rupee, Pakistan, Seychellois rupee, Seychelles, and Sri Lankan rupee, Sri Lanka, and of former cu ...
capital gains tax owed to the 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 s ...
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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 ...
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Telia Carrier Arelion, formerly named Telia Carrier and TeliaSonera International Carrier (TSIC), is a provider of telecommunication services based in Solna, Sweden. Arelion is a tier 1 network provider, assigned Autonomous System number AS1299. Since 2021 ...


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 Companies listed on Nasdaq Stockholm Companies in the OMX Stockholm 30 Partly privatized companies of Finland Partly privatized companies of Sweden Companies based in Solna Municipality Multinational companies headquartered in Sweden