The telco aims to reduce its business in Eurasia
Swedish telecom operator TeliaSonera will increase focus on its European and Swedish operations and reduce its presence in the Eurasia region.
The company said that it has been working to improve its Eurasian operations over the last two years.
“Thanks to two years of hard work to improve the Eurasian operations, not least from a corporate governance and sustainability perspective, we now have better and well-managed companies, which we believe others can successfully develop further,” TeliaSonera’s President and CEO Johan Dennelind said.
“We realize that this will be a complex task that will take time. We are conducting this process market by market as each country and operation has its unique situation, but the ambition is to eventually leave the entire region,” the executive added.
The TeliaSonera board has decided to focus on the development of its overall European business, as well as the operation in Sweden, with the allocation of additional resources.
The Wall Street Journal reports the exit from Eurasia is punctuated by suspicion from U.S. and Swedish authorities that TeliaSonera paid millions of dollars in bribes to the daughter of Uzbek President Islam Karimov to secure operational licenses.
Going forward, TeliaSonera reps said the service provider will focus on core areas such as connectivity and convergence – while supplementing the strategy with new initiatives in areas that complement the core business in Europe and Sweden.
TeliaSonera officials added that it is not possible to estimate how long it will take the process to reduce its presence in Eurasia. However, the telecom operator said it will continue to operate and develop the Eurasian operations in the meantime.
TeliaSonera’s Eurasia business includes operations in Nepal, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Tajikistan.
In the second quarter of 2015, TeliaSonera generated revenue of 5.74 billion kronor ($695 million) in Eurasia, representing 21.2% of the company’s overall revenue in the period.
The operator ended Q2 with a total of 40.18 million mobile subscribers across its business in Eurasia, up 2.1% from the same period in 2014. The largest markets for TeliaSonera in terms of subscribers in Eurasia are Nepal, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
In Europe, TeliaSonera operates in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Spain. Swedish operations accounted for 34.2% of the group’s overall revenue in Q2.
