Telenor Group, a global telecommunications company serving 175 million customers in the Nordics and Asia, has revealed strategies of Singapore-headquartered Telenor Asia.
Telenor Asia will have the responsibility for the company’s operations in Bangladesh, Malaysia, Pakistan and Thailand.
“The strengthened team at our Singapore headquarters will add value to our operations and safeguard our interests in the region. This will also help us ensure value creation of our assets, and we will explore structural partnerships or, in the future, a potential IPO,” said Jorgen Rostrup, Head of Telenor Asia.
Each market will have dedicated Investment Management teams. These teams will take on an asset manager role and represent Telenor’s interests in local boards. The team in Singapore will be strengthened with expertise in finance, operations, risk management, governance, people management and responsible business.
In 2021, Telenor Asia signed merger agreements in Malaysia and Thailand. These mergers are the largest and second largest in South-East Asia. When the two mergers are completed, Telenor Asia’s portfolio will comprise leading telco players in three large Asian markets, with more than 200 million customers and $10 billion in revenue.
Telenor Asia will realize synergies from the two mergers and maximize opportunities to achieve a target of $1.2 billion in cash flow by 2025.
Telenor Asia will focus on increasing mobile adoption and data usage in Bangladesh and Pakistan. There are more than 150 million people in these two countries without mobile devices and 50 percent of the current customer base subscribe to voice services only.
Telenor Asia will be growing business-to-business (B2B) revenue. Current revenue contribution to Telenor Asia from this sector is around 5 percent, with large growth potential. Telenor Asia’s B2B revenue rose by 10 percent.
