TeliaSonera in discussions regarding ownership structure in MegaFon (Sweden, Russia)
Mobile operator TeliaSonera confirmed that discussions are held between TeliaSonera, AF Telecom and Altimo regarding the future ownership structure and governance of MegaFon. These discussions have so far not led to any agreement, but if and when an agreement is reached, TeliaSonera will present information in accordance with the relevant stock exchange rules.
The operator issued a statement to the media owing to increasing media speculation. At present, TeliaSonera holds a stake of 43.8 percent in MegaFon.
TeliaSonera acquires Svenska Stadsnat AB (Sweden)
Telecom operator TeliaSonera has acquired all shares in Svenska Stadsnät AB, a company providing fiber capacity to municipalities, companies and households, according to a company report. The price for the acquisition is not disclosed.
For 2011 net sales in Svenska Stadsnät amounted to US$ 7.9 million. The company has operations in seven municipalities: Laholm, Svalöv, Örkelljunga, Karlshamn, Gislaved, Gnosjö and Mölndal.
Malin Frenning, President of Business area Broadband Services in TeliaSonera said that Svenska Stadsnät has an open-minded and customer focused culture where service providers can act in an open competitive environment and at equal terms, which is in line with their ambitions. Their network complements TeliaSonera very well, and Svenska Stadsnät has successfully established good relations with the municipalities.
The possibility to deliver high capacity to many Swedes in an open fiber network is the core of the development of the fiber market, an ambition in common for TeliaSonera and Svenska Stadsnät.
Börje Andersson, Chairman of the Board of Svenska Stadsnät, said that with TeliaSonera as a new owner, their business will get the financial resources that a future roll-out requires. As TeliaSonera develops its open model even further, their network and employees will get into the right environment
TeliaSonera’s wholly-owned subsidiary Skanova will take the operational control in the business and consolidate Svenska Stadsnät into its reporting. Initially the business will continue as today. Over time the framework will be evaluated and developed with the aim to give both TeliaSonera’s and Svenska Stadsnät’s customers a high quality experience. The current management will continue to develop the company’s business concept and Jimmy Andreasson, CEO of Svenska Stadsnät, will take part in the management team of Skanova.
TeliaSonera leads with maximum subscribers on its 4G network (Sweden)
Mobile network operator TeliaSonera has emerged as the leading operator for 4G wireless services in Sweden, with over 100,000 customers on its 4G network.
According to a report by BN, Haakan Dahlstroem, head of mobility services, TeliaSonera, said in an interview, that the company began offering 4G in Stockholm and Oslo in December 2009, knowing that devices for users would be slow to arrive. He said that after being late to market with 3G mobile broadband, the provider wanted to signal to business customers that it would invest to have the most advanced network for their laptops and tablets.
The report added that Dahlstroem said that when they took the decision to be early with 4G it was based more on image than on network offload. He added that changes will happen over a long time. Further, the majority of terminals on their network are 3G but they still have a lot of 2G out there.
As per the interview, Haakan expects to launch the operator’s first Samsung Electronics Co. 4G handset in Sweden by this week.
With data demand consistently increasing, telecom operators have been upgrading their networks to support the demand and retain their customer base. 4G wireless services offer users faster transfer speeds enabling them to stream videos and movies online in a smooth and uninterrupted manner.
As per the report, Dahlstroem said that the majority of Nordic 4G customers are in Sweden. Further, the operator also offers 4G in Finland and Denmark, and has very small numbers of 4G customers in the Baltics.
He added that problems with low data throughput, dropped calls and poor coverage in the Danish network have been solved. Also, capabilities for voice calls with 4G are likely to be added in 2013. Finally, he claimed that TeliaSonera is continuing to increase capacity in the 3G network while it expands coverage in the 4G network.
TeliaSonera to acquire 49 percent stake in Kcell (Europe, Asia)
Telecom operator TeliaSonera will acquire a 49 percent stake in Kcell for US$ 1.5 billion. According to company reports, the operator will sell 25 percent of the shares minus one share in Kcell in an Initial Public Offering (IPO), which is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2012.
Company reports reveal, Tero Kivisaari, President, TeliaSonera Eurasia, this agreement is another step in the execution of their strategy of increasing ownership in core holdings. Through this transaction TeliaSonera increases its ownership in Kcell, a company where they already have management and operational control. Kcell is a clear market leader in Kazakhstan, the largest market in Central Asia, and has shown remarkable growth over the years. The fact that part of the company will be sold in an IPO will make it even more attractive.
The company hopes to finalize the agreement, subject to regulatory approvals by the first quarter of 2012.
Bakcell launches 3G services (Azerbaijan)
Azerbaijan’s second largest mobile operator in terms of subscribers, Bakcell, has reportedly launched its 3G services in 62 cities under the brand ‘sur@’. The operator which received the 3G licence from the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) earlier this month reportedly plans to extend its 3G services to the country’s rural areas during the next year.
As per sources, the mobile broadband service provides users access to a maximum download speed of up to 14.4 Mbps across all coverage cities, with the speed reaching up to 28 Mbps in the capital, Baku. Further, reports reveal that Bakcell plans to launch Dual Carrier HSPA+ services over the network, which would raise the download speeds to 42Mbps.
Bakcell is the third operator in the country to offer its users 3G services. Mobile network operator Azerfon was the first to launch 3G in December 2009, followed by Azercell, subsidiary of TeliaSonera, which launched its 3G services last week.
Tele2 looks for acquisition opportunities in Central Asia to compete with TeliaSonera (Europe)
Sweden based telecom firm, Tele2 is reportedly looking for acquisition opportunities in Central Asia, in an attempt to better compete with rival operator TeliaSonera. According to reports, Tele2 had acquired a majority stake in Kazakhstan’s wireless operator NEO, in March 2010.
As per sources, Lars Nilsson, CFO, Tele2 has said that countries in the vicinity of Kazakhstan can always be of interest as long as the market is not too small. He added that the target markets need at least 1 million potential customers for Tele2 to make an investment worthwhile. Further, reports suggest that Tele2 has more than 1 million Kazakh customers and expects to reach as many as 2.5 million by the end of 2012.
TeliaSonera currently operates in the regions of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. As per reports, it is looking to increase its stake in partially owned companies and is currently investing more in Kcell.
Sources claim that Telenor has been focusing on India and regions in Southeast Asia for opportunities in the emerging markets. According to reports, Richard Olav Aa, CFO, Telenor said that he expects Indian authorities to create more transparent rules for mergers and acquisitions within the next three years, and the company would be able to engage in mergers if it meets its 2013 breakeven goal.
TeliaSonera expects lower data roaming charges (Sweden)
TeliaSonera, a leading telecommunications service provider, expects lower operator bills for users surfing the web through smartphones, tablets and laptops outside their home countries. As per reports, Lars Nyberg, President and CEO, TeliaSonera, has said that the industry has been shooting itself in the foot for years with the kind of prices they’ve had and that it has been a major mistake. He added that people turn off their roaming at the airport and don’t like to use their phones due to sky high prices.
Mr. Nyberg believes that lowering the data roaming prices would help improve the company’s overall profitability by encouraging more users to access data at affordable rates. TeliaSonera had cut its data roaming prices by 90 percent this year for users travelling within the Nordic and Baltic countries and aims to extend this to almost 30 countries. As per reports, customers were able to access 20 megabytes of data at a charge of only $7.6 each day, significantly lower than the proposed ceiling of $1.24 per megabyte by the European Commission. Further, users are also sent a text message if they are required to top up their account.
While industry insiders feel that this move may negatively affect the company’s profits, Mr. Nyberg believes that this would infact better their earnings as compared to before.
TeliaSonera takes legal action against Turkcell Chairman
In order to safeguard good corporate governance in Turkcell, to the benefit of all shareholders, and protect its legal rights as minority shareholder, TeliaSonera takes legal action against the Chairman of Turkcell, Mr. Colin J. Williams.
TeliaSonera has for years argued that the number of independent board members in Turkcell has to increase in order for Turkcell to follow requirements by the Turkish Capital Markets Board and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Such actions have however been blocked by Cukurova and the Chairman of the Board, Mr. Colin J. Williams.
TeliaSonera has lately put forward formal requests to the Board of Turkcell to add the possibility for Turkcell’s shareholders to address the board composition at the upcoming Annual Shareholders’ Meeting (AGM). The right for a minority shareholder, with more than 5 percent of the shares in a listed company, to address an issue at the AGM is a basic and clear right under Turkish law. TeliaSonera has now, through the actions of a minority of the Turkcell board members, been denied this legal right. The actions are clear violations of the law. It is particularly troubling that the Chairman of the Board, Mr. Colin J Williams, who is the only independent board member and whose vote would have altered the Board’s decision, has acted against the law.
Following the law is a minimum requirement for a Chairman of a major listed international company. We also believe that issues regarding corporate governance should be openly discussed and decided by all shareholders at the AGM and not be blocked behind closed doors by a minority of the Board,†says Cecilia Edstr¶m, Senior Vice President and Head of Group Communications.
We take the fact that Mr. Colin J. Williams has been blocking certain vital corporate governance issues as evidence that he is not acting as an independent member and impartial Chairman of the Board of Turkcell. He should therefore be removed from his duties, in order not to cause the company and its shareholders any further damage,†Cecilia Edstr¶m continues.
TeliaSonera AB discloses the information provided herein pursuant to the Swedish Securities Markets Act and/or the Swedish Financial Instrument Trading Act.
Swedish Government cancels TeliaSonera shares sale
Opposition politicians in Sweden have blocked plans by the minority government to sell stakes in state-owned companies, including the government held stake in TeliaSonera. The government lost the vote 172-170 with seven members declining to vote in the debate.
The government had also planned the sales of stakes in mortgage lender SBAB, postal service company Posten Norden and utility Vattenfall – but lost its working majority in the Parliament in last September’s elections.
The government recently raised US$3 billion from the sale of a third of its 19.8% stake in Nordea Bank, and was expected to raise a further US$15 billion from selling stakes in the other companies.
The Swedish government owned 37.3% of TeliaSonera at the end of last year, according to the figures on their website. The Finnish government also owns a 13.7% stake in the company, with the rest floated on the stock exchange.
NetCom becomes new broadband supplier to NRK (Norway)
TeliaSonera’s Norwegian subsidiary NetCom has won a contract from The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) to become NRK’s new supplier of voice and mobile broadband.
Covering a period of 4 years, the contract is worth US$10.65 million and includes 3,600 mobile subscriptions, transfer of fixed voice traffic, mobile broadband and several thousands 4G subscriptions.
Over the coming two years, NetCom is planning to invest US$177.61 million on increased network coverage, mobile broadband speed and quality. 4G next generation mobile broadband with speeds of up to 80 Mbps will be launched in large parts of Norway during the period.
