Telenor Introduction

Telenor is the incumbent telecommunications company in Norway, with headquarters located at Fornebu, close to Oslo. Today, Telenor is mostly an international wireless carrier with operations in Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and Asia. It is currently ranked as the seventh largest carrier in the world, with 143 million subscribers. In addition, it has extensive broadband and TV distribution operations in four Nordic Countries
History
Telegrafverket
Telenor started off in 1855 as a state-operated monopoly, named Telegrafverket as a provider of telegraph services. The first ideas for a telegraph were launched within the Royal Norwegian Navy in 1848, but by 1852 the plans were public and the Parliament of Norway decided on a plan for constructing the telegraph throughout the country. Televerket began by building from Christiania (now Oslo) to Sweden (Norway was at that time in a union with Sweden as well as between Christiania and Drammen. By 1857 the telegraph had reached Bergen (west coast) via Sørlandet (south coast) and by 1871 it had reached Kirkenes (north coast). Cable connections were opened to Denmark in 1867 and to Great Britain in 1869. The telegraph was most important for the merchant marine who now could use the electric telegraph to instantly communicate between different locations, and get a whole new advantage within logistics
Technology
The first telephone service in Norway was offered in 1878 between Arendal and Tvedestrand, while the first international telephone service between Christiania and Stockholm was offered in 1893. Automation of the telephone system was started in 1920 and completed in 1985. In 1946 the first Telex service was offered, and in 1976 satellite telephone connections to oil platforms in the North Sea were installed. In 1980 the first steps to digitalise the telephone network were taken
Televerket opened its first manual mobile telephone system in 1966, being replaced with the automatic NMT system in 1981 and the enhanced NMT-900 in 1986. Norway was the first country in Europe to get an automatic mobile telephone system. The digital GSM system came into use in 1993; the GSM standard was developed in Norway by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), but no mobile phone manufacturers emerged in the country. The third generation of mobile technology with UMTS system began full operation 2004. The Opera web browser was created in 1994 by Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner and Geir Ivarsøy during their tenure at Telenor. Opera Software was established in 1995 after the pair went on to continue development of their browser.
Deregulation and internationalisation
The corporation changed its name to Televerket in 1969. In 1994, the then Norwegian Telecom was established as a public corporation. The authorities wanted to deregulate the telecom sector in Norway, and sector by sector was deregulated between 1994 to 1998. An attempt to merge Telenor with its counterpart in Sweden, Telia, failed in 1999, while both still were owned by their respective governments. On December 4, 2000 the company was partially privatised and listed on Oslo Stock Exchange and NASDAQ. The privatisation gave the company NOK 15,6 billion in new capital, the Government of Norway owning 77.7% of the company after the privatisation. By 2006 the governments ownership has been reduced to 53%.
In the second half of the 1990s, Telenor became involved in mobile operations in a number of countries: Russia (1994), Bangladesh, Greece, Ireland, Germany and Austria (1997), Ukraine (1998), Malaysia (1999), Denmark and Thailand (2000), Hungary (2002), Montenegro (2004), Pakistan (2004), Slovakia, Czech Republic, Serbia (2006). Operations in Greece, Ireland and Germany were sold in 1999/2000 and profits were re-invested in the emerging markets. In October 2005 Telenor acquired Vodafone Sweden, changing the name to Telenor in April 2006. On 31 July 2006, Telenor acquired 100 per cent share of mobile operator Mobi 63, one of two mobile operations existing in that moment in Serbia for Euro 1.513 billion.
Operations
Telenor offers a full range of telecommunication services in Norway, including mobile and fixed telephony as well as Internet access and content. Telenor still dominates the market place in Norway. However, competition has at times been intense in the mobile market and ADSL market, but Telenor remains the largest company in both sectors.
Telenor holds a prominent position in the Scandinavian Broadband and TV market, both with regard to the number of subscribers and to the extent of coverage. The TV distribution is branded Canal Digital.
Telenor used to provide a range of services related to satellite communication, including voice, television and data before its Telenor Satellite Services devision was purchased by Vizada in 2007.
Telenor Maritime Radio is responsible for the infrastructure for maritime radio communication in Norway, and also includes five manned coast radio stations whose primary purpose is to monitor the maritime radio traffic and to assist marine vessels in distress.
Telenor Cinclus develops and sells products related to Automatic Meter Reading and other technologies related to machine to machine communication.
Telenor Research and Innovation (Telenor R&I, prior to September 1st 2006 known as Telenor R&D) is Norway's largest research establishment within Information and Communications Technology (ICT). Telenor R&I has research facilities in Fornebu, Trondheim and Tromsø.
Telenor also owns 51,8% of EDB Business Partner that offers a wide range of IT-services. The company is listed on Oslo Stock Exchange.
Telenor has sold a number of divisions after its privatisation, including Bravida, the former installation division and Findexa, now part of Eniro that is responsible for telephone directorys.
Mobile


Telenor Mobile SIM
At year-end 2005, Telenor held controlling interests in mobile operations in Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Ukraine, Hungary, Montenegro, Thailand, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Telenor also holds minority interests in mobile operations in Russia, having recently sold a minority share in Austria.
In accordance with Telenor's strategy of consolidating its position in international mobile by obtaining control of selected international mobile operations, and in order to maximize the benefit of cross-border synergies and increase overall profitability, Telenor also made new acquisitions in 2005.
In October 2006, Telenor entered into an agreement with Vodafone Group for the acquisition of subsidiary Vodafone Sweden for a consideration of NOK 8,170 million, including assumption of debt.
Effective from 26 October 2005, Telenor increased its economic stake in Total Access Communication in Thailand to 56.9 per cent. Following further transactions based on mandatory tender offers, Telenor's economic stake was raised to 69.3 per cent by year-end 2005.
Telenor's mobile commitments in Asia and Eastern and Central Europe are becoming increasingly important and to ensure optimal follow-up, Telenor has appointed dedicated Executive Vice Presidents for these regions. Telenor has also strengthened the co-ordination of operational and human resources across all the countries in which the group has operations through the appointment of two new Executive Vice Presidents to the Group Executive Management.
During 2005, Telenor successfully extracted a number of cross-border synergies across the group. Common technologies for optimal spectrum and network utilisation have been successfully implemented at each of the group's operations, and Telenor maintains its focus on adopting new technologies to improve service quality and reduce costs.
In order to harmonise the group's customer orientation across all markets, Telenor has developed a common segmentation model that enables more effective targeting, while also providing greater insight into the global markets. Telenor has developed a framework that provides affiliates with a proven concept of developing target segmented offerings and optimised go-to-market strategies.
Revenues from voice services include traffic charges, interconnection fees, and roaming charges. All of Telenor's mobile operations derive the greatest share of their total revenues from voice services, and Telenor continues to focus on developing new products, services and initiatives to increase Telenor's customer base and encourage higher usage.
Fixed-line
In Norway, Telenor provides communications solutions on a retail basis to both residential and business customers. Offers include analogue and digital (ISDN) fixed-line telephony, as well as broadband voice services over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Internet access via PSTN/ISDN and digital subscriber lines (xDSL), value-added services and leased lines. Norway now has one of the highest numbers of DSL lines per capita, currently at over 80% of households and steadily growing.
Through the acquisitions of Bredbandsbolaget and Cybercity, made in July 2005 for NOK 4.5 billion and NOK 1.3 billion, respectively, Telenor has gained a strong position in the fast-growing broadband markets in Sweden and Denmark. Bredbandsbolaget is Sweden's second largest provider of broadband services, offering full with high-speed Internet, VoIP and Internet Protocol (IP) television services on an all-IP fibre and xDSL network. Cybercity is Denmark's third largest broadband supplier, providing xDSL-based Internet access and voice services to both residential and business customers.
On 8 February 2006, Telenor increased its shareholding in the Swedish residential voice and broadband provider Glocalnet AB by 13.5 per cent, for a consideration of SEK 136 million (NOK 118 million), to secure a 50.1 per cent ownership interest. The acquisition triggered a mandatory offer for all outstanding shares in Glocalnet AB. This offer is valid until 21 April 2006. As at 28 March 2006, Telenor holds a 96.6 per cent ownership interest in Glocalnet.
In the fourth quarter of 2005, Telenor disposed of its operations in the Czech Republic and Slovakia with a loss of NOK 63 million.