Telia Stock (TELIA.SE): Live Price Chart

Telia Company AB is a Swedish multinational telecommunications company and mobile network operator with operations in Sweden, Finland, Norway, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

In 2019, Telia acquired TV4 Media, which includes TV4 in Sweden, MTV Oy in Finland, and C More Entertainment. The company is headquartered in Solna and its stock is traded on the Stockholm Stock Exchange and the Helsinki Stock Exchange.

Telia has been implicated in corruption scandals related to its dealings with regimes in Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan. The bribery scandal concerning the Ilham Aliyev regime in Azerbaijan is considered "possibly the largest bribery in Swedish history."

Telia Company, in its present form, was established as TeliaSonera in 2002 through the merger of Swedish and Finnish telecommunications companies, Telia and Sonera. This merger followed three years after Telia's unsuccessful attempt to merge with Norwegian telecommunications company Telenor, now its main competitor in the Nordic region.

Prior to privatization, Telia held a state monopoly on telephone services. Sonera, on the other hand, had a monopoly solely on trunk network calls, while most (around 75%) of local telecommunications were provided by telephone cooperatives. The distinct brands Telia and Sonera continued to be used in the Swedish and Finnish markets, respectively, until March 2017, when Sonera was rebranded as Telia. As of March 31, 2020, the Swedish government owned 39.5% of the stock, with the remaining shares held by institutions, companies, and private investors globally. The Finnish government (through Solidium) divested from Telia Company in February 2018, selling its remaining 3.2% stake.

The Swedish Kungl. Telegrafverket (Royal Telegraph Agency) was founded in 1853 when the first electric telegraph line was established between Stockholm and Uppsala. Allmänna Telefon found an equipment supplier in Lars Magnus Ericsson. In this early competition, Telegrafverket, with its brand Rikstelefon, was a latecomer. However, by securing a national monopoly on long-distance telephone lines, it gradually gained control and absorbed the local networks of rapidly growing private telephone companies.

A de facto telephone monopoly was established around 1920 and never required legal authorization. In 1953, the name was modernized to Televerket. On July 1, 1992, the regulatory functions of this large government agency were separated into the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (Swedish: Post- och telestyrelsen, PTS), with functions similar to the Federal Communications Commission of the United States. The operation of the state radio and TV broadcast network was spun off into a company named Teracom. On July 1, 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, on June 13, 2000, nearly one-third of Telia's shares were introduced on the Stockholm Stock Exchange.

In the 1980s, Televerket pioneered mobile network operations with the NMT system, followed by GSM in the 1990s. Private competition in analog mobile phone systems had already disrupted the telephone monopoly, and the growing internet provided more opportunities for competitors. The most significant of Telia's Swedish competitors in these areas has been Tele2. When PTS awarded four licenses for 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 license. SUNAB was founded as the jointly owned company that would build, own, and operate the joint 3G network. In December 2018, Telia, in collaboration with Ericsson, launched Sweden's first 5G network at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.

The history of Sonera dates back to 1917 when Suomen Lennätinlaitos (Finnish Telegraph Agency) was established. In 1927, the telegraph agency merged with the Finnish Post to form a new agency, the 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 (Finnish Post) and Telecom Finland Oy. Telecom Finland subsequently changed its name to Sonera in 1998.

During the lead-up to the 2006 general election, the Swedish liberal-conservative Alliance declared its policy goal to reduce government ownership in commercial entities, specifically aiming to sell its stake in TeliaSonera. The Alliance went on to win the election and formed a coalition government. Following the merger with Sonera, the Swedish State held 46% of the shares, and with parliamentary approval, the government reduced its ownership to 37.3%. However, further divestment of TeliaSonera was presented to parliament only after the next election in 2010, when the Alliance lost its majority but remained as a minority administration.

On March 16, 2011, the Alliance administration lost a parliamentary vote on the sale of publicly owned commercial entities, including TeliaSonera, when a coalition of all opposition parties – the Left Party, Social Democratic Party, Green Party, and Sweden Democrats – united against the Alliance.

In early 2008, TeliaSonera announced measures to save nearly 500 million euros, which would include 2,900 redundancies: 2,000 from Sweden and 900 from Finland. France Télécom (now Orange S.A.) proposed a 33 billion euro acquisition offer for TeliaSonera on June 5, 2008, which was promptly rejected by the company's board.

On April 12, 2016, the company was renamed to Telia Company, dropping the Sonera part, rebranding the company to aid recovery after bribery and money laundering allegations.

On July 20, 2018, Telia Company announced the acquisition proposal of Bonnier Broadcasting Group from Bonnier Group for 9.2 billion SEK (roughly $1 billion), thereby acquiring TV4 AB (commercial television broadcaster in Sweden), MTV Oy (commercial television broadcaster in Finland), and C More Entertainment (pan-Nordic operator of premium television channels). The European Commission approved the deal on November 12, 2019, with certain conditions, and the acquisition was completed on December 2 that year.

Prior to the completion of the Bonnier Broadcasting deal, the Telia Company nomination committee proposed on October 20, 2019, that Marie Ehrling be succeeded by Lars-Johan Jarnheimer, the former CEO of Tele2 until 2008, and then-chair of Egmont Media, as the company's board chair. The proposal was approved on November 26 that year, following the extraordinary general meeting. Meanwhile, on October 24, Telia Company appointed Allison Kirkby, 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 May 4, 2020.

On October 6, 2020, Telia Company agreed to sell its internet backbone unit Telia Carrier to Polhem Infra for roughly US$1 billion. The sale was completed on June 1, 2021.

Telia Company is the leading Nordic and Baltic operator for fixed-voice, broadband, and mobile services, based on revenue and customer base. It also owns a TV media operation encompassing TV4 in Sweden, MTV in Finland, and C More.

Telia's Mobile Telephone Business in Europe:

• Leading Company: Sweden, Estonia, and Lithuania
• Second Largest Company: Finland and Norway

Estonia:

Telia Company owns 100% of Eesti Telekom, a leading telecommunications company in the Baltic region and the largest in Estonia. TeliaSonera and the Estonian government reached an agreement for the sale of Eesti Telekom in September 2009. On January 20, 2016, Eesti Telekom rebranded to Telia Eesti.

Finland:

Telia Finland is the second-largest mobile operator in Finland and a prominent provider of landline telephone and internet services. Prior to the rebranding on March 23, 2017, Telia operated in Finland under the brands Sonera and Tele Finland. Notably, in September 1999, Sonera became the first mobile operator globally to launch mobile internet services using Wireless Application Protocol (WAP).

Since 2014, Telia Finland and DNA Oyj have jointly established a shared 4G LTE network using the 800 MHz (LTE Band 20) "digital dividend" band in remote areas of Northern and Eastern Finland under the Suomen Yhteisverkko Oy joint venture. Telia Finland owns 51% of Suomen Yhteisverkko Oy.

Latvia:

TeliaSonera holds a 49% stake in LMT (24.5% as Telia Company AB and 24.5% as Sonera Holding B.V.). TeliaSonera also owns 49% of Tet, which holds a 23% interest in LMT. Additionally, Telia Company owns 100% of Telia Latvija, a cable operator and data center provider.

Lithuania:

TeliaSonera owns 88.15% of Telia Lietuva (formerly known as Teo LT until 2017), Lithuania's leading landline phone operator. Telia Lietuva recently acquired Omnitel, one of the country's largest mobile network operators, which was previously owned by the TeliaSonera group.

In October 2015, TeliaSonera announced the merger of Teo and Omnitel through the acquisition of Omnitel by Teo.

On February 1, 2017, Omnitel and Teo merged under the name "Telia Lietuva."

Norway:

Telia entered the Norwegian market after deregulation in 1998 as a virtual supplier of fixed telephone and internet services. This operation was later sold to Enitel during a merger attempt with Telenor. However, Telia re-entered the market in 2000 by acquiring one of the two mobile network operators, NetCom. In 2006, Telia further expanded its presence by acquiring the virtual mobile provider Chess Communication.

On March 1, 2016, NetCom was rebranded as Telia Norge.

In July 2018, Telia acquired Get AS and TDC Norway for $2.6 billion.

Sweden:

In Sweden, Telia Company operates under the consumer brands Telia and its lower-cost subsidiaries 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, based on both revenue and customer base. Its main competitors include Tele2, Telenor, 3, Allente, and Boxer.

Former Global Activities:

Afghanistan:

In July 2020, Telia Company announced the divestment of its 12.25% stake in the Afghan Roshan (telco) cellphone network.

Azerbaijan:

On May 15, 2010, after Azercell underwent rebranding, it joined the TeliaSonera network. On March 5, 2018, Telia confirmed the sale of its stake in Azercell.

Cambodia:

TeliaSonera acquired a majority stake in Star-Cell in 2008, which was the fourth-largest player in the market at that time. By 2010, TeliaSonera exited Cambodia after a $100 million write-down and decline in subscriber numbers. It was subsequently acquired by a larger competitor, Smart Mobile.

Denmark:

In Denmark, Telia Company operated a mobile operator (Telia), a mobile virtual network operator (Call Me), and a broadband supplier (Telia). The company's presence began in 1995, resulting from a merger between Telia Stofa and TeliaSonera. In 2014, Telia and Telenor announced their intention to merge and create a 50/50 joint venture. However, this plan failed in 2015 due to unsuccessful negotiations with EU regulators. The two companies do operate a 50/50 joint venture for their network infrastructure operations and spectrum holdings, known as TT-Netværket (TT-Network).

Telia Broadband was relaunched in 2008 to provide both mobile and broadband services in all of TeliaSonera's home markets (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland). Telia Broadband was the first operator to introduce digital TV with its broadband at no additional cost. Stofa primarily operates as a cable TV provider but also offers broadband services through its cable TV network.

Telia Company sold its Danish operations and network assets to Norlys a.m.b.a. (Norlys) for an enterprise value of DKK 6.25 billion on a cash and debt-free basis on April 2, 2024.

Georgia:

From 2007 to 2018, Telia Company owned 58.55% of the Geocell company, with Turkcell holding the remaining 41.45%. Since 2018, Silknet acquired full ownership of Geocell.

Sri Lanka:

From 1996 to 2010, Telia Company owned 100% of SUNTEL Ltd. Since 2010, Dialog Axiata has held full ownership of Suntel.

Kazakhstan:

Telia Company operated in Kazakhstan under the brand Kcell. On December 21, 2018, Kcell was 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, the largest mobile operator in Nepal, with US$16.2 billion in operating income. On December 21, 2015, TeliaSonera announced its exit from Ncell, selling its 60.4 percent stake to the Malaysian telecommunications group Axiata. TeliaSonera's departure from Nepal occurred without settling billions of Capital Gains Tax owed to the Nepalese government.

Russia:

Telia Company held a 25.2% stake in MegaFon, Russia's second-largest mobile phone operator. In October 2017, Telia Company agreed to sell its entire MegaFon stake for US$1 billion.

Spain:

Telia Company owned a 76.6% holding in the Spanish operator Yoigo until June 21, 2016, when it was sold to Masmovil.

Tajikistan:

Telia Company owned 60% of the mobile phone operator Tcell. Tcell is a merger of Somoncom and Indigo Tajikistan, which was completed in July 2012. On April 27, 2017, it was confirmed that Tcell had been sold.

Turkey:

In October 2020, Telia Company's divestment of its 47.1 percent stake in Turkcell Holding (which holds 51% in Turkey's leading listed mobile operator) to the state-owned Turkey Wealth Fund for US$530 million was completed.

Uzbekistan:

In five years, Ucell, the Uzbek subsidiary, grew its subscriber base from 400,000 to 9 million (2012). Some former TeliaSonera executives were subject to preliminary investigation by Swedish prosecutors for alleged bribery and money laundering associated with the acquisition of their 3G license in Uzbekistan from Takilant Limited, registered in Gibraltar. These investigations, involving four Uzbek nationals, led to the freezing of hundreds of millions of francs in Swiss banks. The former executives were acquitted in the first instance of the Swedish legal proceedings in February 2019, but the verdict has been appealed. In September 2017, Telia Company announced a global settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Dutch Public Prosecution Service (Openbaar Ministerie, OM) regarding previously disclosed investigations concerning historical transactions in Uzbekistan. This global resolution ended all known corruption-related investigations or inquiries into Telia Company.

Telia and the Brand:

When Telia and Sonera merged in 2002, TeliaSonera adopted a simple wordmark as its logo. In 2011, TeliaSonera launched its new purple pebble logo for the corporation and its affiliate brands. The pebble was designed by Landor Associates.

In 2016, TeliaSonera rebranded to Telia Company and introduced an updated pebble brand profile, designed by Wolff Olins, to be used by all Telia brand companies.