 | |
| Company type | Public company State-owned |
|---|---|
| OSE:TEL | |
| Industry | Telecommunications |
| Founded | 1855; 170 years ago (1855) |
| Headquarters | Fornebu,Norway |
Key people |
|
| Products | Fixed line andmobile telephony,internet,digital television,IT services,IPTVTelegraphy |
| Brands |
|
| Revenue |  80.5 billion kr (2023)[1] |
| 21.5 billion kr (2021)[1] | |
| 4.6 billion kr (2021)[1] | |
| Total assets | 225.7 billion kr (2021)[1] |
| Total equity | 26.3 billion kr (2021)[1] |
| Owner | Government of Norway (54%) |
Number of employees | 11,000 (2023)[1] |
| Subsidiaries | See list |
| Website | https://www.telenor.com |
Telenor ASA (Norwegian pronunciation:[ˈtêːlənuːr] or[tɛləˈnuːr])[2] is a Norwegian majoritystate-owned multinationaltelecommunications company headquartered atFornebu inBærum, close toOslo. It is one of theworld's largest mobile telecommunications companies with operationsworldwide, but focused inScandinavia andAsia. It has extensive broadband and TV distribution operations in fourNordic countries, and a 10-year-old research and business line formachine-to-machine technology. Telenor owns networks in 8 countries.[3]
Telenor is listed on theOslo Stock Exchange and had a market capitalization in November 2015 ofkr 225 billion, making it the third largest company listed on the OSE afterDNB andEquinor (previously known as Statoil).[4]
Telenor started off in 1855, as a state-operatedmonopoly provider oftelegraph services namedTelegrafverket. The first Norwegian planning for a telegraph were launched within theRoyal Norwegian Navy in 1848, but by 1852, the plans were public and theParliament of Norway decided on a plan for constructing a telegraph system throughout the country. Televerket began by connectingChristiania (now Oslo) toSweden (Norway was at that time in aunion with Sweden) as well as Christiania andDrammen. By 1857, the telegraph had reachedBergen on the west coast viaSørlandet on the south coast, and by 1871, it had reachedKirkenes on the far north coast. Cable connections were opened toDenmark in 1867 and toGreat 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 from betterlogistics.[5]
The first telephone service in Norway was offered in 1878, betweenArendal andTvedestrand, while the first international telephone service between Christiania andStockholm was offered in 1893. Automation of the telephone system was started in 1920, and completed in 1985. In 1946, the firstTelex service was offered, and in 1976,satellite telephone connections to the Norwegian merchant navy, at the time the largest in the world and tooil platforms in theNorth Sea were made operational. This is the start ofInmarsat Satellite Communication, and formed the first steps todigitalise the telephone network in 1980–1985.[6]
Televerket opened its firstmanual mobile telephone system in 1966, being replaced with the automaticNMT system in 1981, and the enhanced NMT-900 in 1986. Norway was the first country in to get an automatic mobile telephone system. ThedigitalGSM system came into use in 1993. Thethird generation of mobile technology withUMTS system began full operation 2004.[7] TheOperaweb browser was created in 1994 byJon Stephenson von Tetzchner andGeir Ivarsøy during their tenure at Telenor, andOpera Software was established in 1995, when they went on to continue development of their browser.[8] Telenor and Huawei conducted a successful test of 5G with 70 Gbit/s Speeds in Lab environment.[9]
The corporation changed its name toTeleverket in 1969. In 1994, then the Norwegian Telecom was established as apublic corporation. The telecom sector in Norway, was deregulated in stages between 1994 and 1998. An attempt to merge Telenor with its counterpart inSweden,Telia, failed in 1999, while both still were owned by their respective governments. On 4 December 2000, the company was partiallyprivatised and listed onOslo Stock Exchange andNASDAQ.[10] The privatisation gave the company 15.6 billion kr in newcapital, with theGovernment of Norway owning 77.7 percent of the company. As of 2014, the Norwegian government holds 53.97 percent of the Telenor shares directly and another 4.66 percent through theGovernment Pension Fund Norway.[11]
In the second half of the 1990s, Telenor began mobile operations in other countries:Russia (1994),Bangladesh,Greece,Ireland,Germany andAustria (1997),Ukraine (1998),Malaysia (1999),Denmark andThailand (2000),Hungary (2002),Montenegro (2004),Pakistan (2004),Slovakia,Czech Republic,Serbia (2006),Myanmar (2014). Operations in Greece,Ireland and Germany were sold in 1999/2000, and profits were re-invested in emerging markets. In October 2005, Telenor acquiredVodafone Sweden, changing the name to Telenor in April 2006.
Grameenphone was the first Telenor venture in the Asian telecom market and is now the largest mobile operator inBangladesh, Telenor holds 55.8 per cent of the company. Grameenphone started trading its shares on the stock exchanges inDhaka and Chittagong on 16 November 2009. The success of Grammeenphone lead to an increased focus on Asia, with successful entries intoMalaysia,Thailand,Pakistan andMyanmar. Telenor also enteredIndia, but had to withdraw from that market in 2017, with substantial losses.
In March 2018, Telenor sold its business in Southeast Europe (Bulgaria,Hungary,Montenegro andSerbia) to thePPF Group, for a sum of 2.8 billion euros in order to focus more on Asia and the Nordic market.[12]
In 2019, Telenor boughtDNA, the third largest mobile operator inFinland.[13]
On 21 June 2021,Axiata, Telenor andDigi agree to a potential merger ofCelcom and Digi to create a stronger telco in Malaysia, which if approved will be completed by the end of 2022. This come after advanced discussions two months earlier.[14][15][16] The deal was approved by both Celcom and Digi shareholders on 18 November 2022. The merged company is named CelcomDigi. At completion, Axiata and Telenor will hold equal ownership of 33.1 percent each in the newly merged company. The merger was completed on 30 November 2022 and the company began its operation the next day.[17][18][19][20][21][22]
On 22 November 2021, Telenor andCharoen Pokphand Group, officially announced they have agreed to explore a USD 8.6 billion merger plan between Thailand’s second and third largest telecom operators (by subscribers), True Corporation (TRUE) andTotal Access Communication (DTAC) – the proposed merger is subject to regulatory approvals.[23] The merger was "acknowledged" by the regulator NBTC at a meeting on October 20, 2022.[24] The newly merged company still retain the True Corporation name, which was founded on 1 March 2023 and it was listed on theStock Exchange of Thailand under the stock ticker symbol TRUE on 3 March 2023.[25]
Telenor offers a full range of telecommunication services in the Nordic countries, including mobile and fixed telephony, Internet access and as well as cable TV access and content. Telenor still remains the largest actor in Norway despite competition fromTelia and others.
The group 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 brandedAllente. Telenor is also a prominent actor in Asia with operations in five different Asian countries.
At year-end 2021, Telenor held controlling interests in mobile operations in Norway, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Thailand, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Pakistan. The Myanmar operation was announced sold in 2021, and the transaction completed in March 2022.
| Country | Operator | Native name | Ownership stake | 2019 revenue (million NOK) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Norway | Telenor Norway | Telenor | 100 percent | 28 658 |
 Denmark | Telenor Denmark | Telenor | 100 percent | 4 871 |
 Finland | DNA | DNA | 100 percent | 3 433 |
 Sweden | Telenor Sverige | Telenor | 100 percent | 12 857 |
 Bangladesh | Grameenphone | গ্রামীণফোন | 55.8 percent | 14 980 |
 Malaysia | CelcomDigi | celcomdigi | 33.1 percent | 13 572 |
 Pakistan | Telenor Pakistan | ٹیلی نار پاکستان | 0 percent[a] | 6 033 |
 Vietnam | VNPT | Tập đoàn Bưu chính Viễn thông Việt Nam | 100 percent | 9 100 |
 Thailand | True Corporation | ทรู คอร์ปอเรชั่น | 30 percent | 22 994 |
Telenor Kystradio is responsible for the infrastructure for maritime radio communication in Norway, and also includes five staffed coast radio stations whose primary purpose is to monitor the maritime radio traffic (over e.g.VHF andMF bands) and to assist marine vessels in distress.[citation needed]
In 2022, Telenor established Telenor Amp, a business area managing companies adjacent to its core telecom operations. Amp follows a “develop-or-divest” strategy, focusing on areas such as IoT and security services. Its portfolio includes Telenor Connexion and, since 2024, the cybersecurity subsidiary Telenor Cyberdefence.[26]
Telenor Research is Telenor's corporate unit for research. The unit conducts research and delivers research based advice on topics such as market, technology, data analytics, innovation and organization. Telenor Research provides research based analysis and strategic recommendations to the Telenor Group, as well as to the individual Business Units across Telenor markets. Telenor Research's mission is to create business value for Telenor through applied research.
Telenor started exploring theM2M potentials in 2000, when Telenor R&D established a project both aimed at technology, services and business models. This was further spurred when Telenor acquired the Swedish mobile company Europolitan, which contained parts ofVodafone's research capabilities in the area. As a result, two separate companies have been established: Telenor Connexion inStockholm, Sweden[27] (aiming higher up in the M2M value chain), andTelenor Objects (aiming further down in the value chain). The initiative has resulted in a substantial market share of Europe's fast-growing M2M market and is being used byNissan inEurope to connect its customers'electric cars.[28] As of 2017,Telenor Objects is no longer active.[29]
In 2021, Telenor unified its IoT operations under the brand Telenor IoT, combining Telenor Connexion with other units into a single global team of about 200 specialists.[30] Analysts have included Telenor in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Managed IoT Connectivity Services and Transforma Insights’ CSP IoT Peer Benchmarking 2024.[31][32]In 2025, trade publications reported that Telenor IoT had surpassed 25 million SIMs deployed, and through a partnership with Verizon Business enabled customers to access local U.S. networks via eSIM.[33][34]
Telenor's wholly owned subsidiaryCanal Digital is a leading TV content distributor in the Nordic region with about 2.7 million customers in 2011.[35] On 13 April 2021, the merger of Canal Digital andViasat inAllente was completed.
Telenor also operates the national terrestrial broadcast network inNorway, through its subsidiaryNorkring.
Thor is a family of satellites owned by Telenor. On 11 February 2008, the THOR 5 satellite was launched into geostationary orbit. The launch was provided byInternational Launch Services using aProton-Mlaunch vehicle built byKhrunichev Space Center.[36] Telenor operates three satellites from its satellite control centre at Fornebu (THOR5, THOR6 and THOR7).[citation needed]
Telenor has sold a number of divisions after its privatisation, including Bravida,[37] the former installation division andFindexa, now part ofEniro that is responsible fortelephone directories. The browser vendorOpera Software originated in Telenor's R&D department.[38] Telenor formerly provided a range of services related to satellite communication, includingvoice,television anddata before its Telenor Satellite Services division was purchased byVizada in 2007.
Telenor has also previously been active in a number of international markets as a mobile phone network operator:
| Country | Year of entry | Year of exit |
|---|---|---|
 Greece | 1997 | 2019 |
 Ireland | 1997 | 1999 |
 Germany | 1997 | 2020 |
 Slovakia | 1998 | 2005 |
 Czech Republic | 1998 | 2005 |
 Austria | 1997 | 2007 |
 India | 2009 | 2018 |
 Serbia | 2006 | 2017 |
 Montenegro | 2004 (when part of Serbia and Montenegro) | 2008 |
 Bulgaria | 2013 | 2017 |
 Hungary | 2002 | 2017 |
 Russia | 1994 | 2022 |
 Ukraine | 1998 | 2019 |
 Myanmar | 2014 | 2021 |
On 28 August 2025, it was announced that anti-coup activists inJustice for Myanmar accused Telenor of providing surveillance equipment and customer data to theTatmadaw regime in a complaint to theNorwegian Police filed jointly withICJ Norway. Telenor's data was also allegedly used by the Tatmadaw to track down88 Generation Students member,Ko Jimmy on 13 February 2021.[39][40][41][42]
Theprime minister of Norway and two cabinet members have been questioned (in writing) by (parliament's)Standing Committee on Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs; they have been asked to answer within 6 November; Furthermore, on 23 October, media said that "Nobel Prize winnerAung San Suu Kyi" was one of the victims of data violations.[43]
{{cite web}}:|last= has generic name (help)
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
