Telenor is the incumbent telco in Norway. The headquarter is located at Fornebu, close to Oslo. Today, Telenor is mostly an international Mobile company with 12 operations in Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and Asia. In addition, it has extensive Broadband and TV-distribution operations in the three Scandinavian countries.
History
Telenor was formerly a state-operated monopoly, and called Televerket that has been in operation since 1855. In 1994, the then Norwegian Telecom was established as a public corporation. In December 2000, the company was partly privatised and listed on the stock exchange.
Due to Norway's small population and topography, Telenor still dominates the market place in Norway. However, competition has at times been intense in the mobile market and ADSL market.
Telenor R&D is Norway's largest research establishment within ICT.
Internationalisation
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). Greece, Ireland and Germany was sold in 1999/2000 and profits were re-invested in the emerging markets.
Approximately half of Telenor's employees work outside Norway.
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.
Interesting tidbits
Telenor Mobil SIM
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.
Telenor was among the active telcos in developing the GSM standard and has subsequently reaped the benefits of this through its foray into emerging markets.
Probable strategy
Continue its focus on mobile operations in Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and Asia, become the largest provider of TV and Broadband to customers in Scandinavia, and sell non-core assets outside this scope.
The company started commercial operations in Pakistan on 14 March 2005 and has made an announcement that it shall be focusing on the emerging markets in Asia and Pacific region.
