Telecom service provider TeliaSonera today announced that it acquired Tele2’s operations in Norway for an enterprise value of SEK 5.1 billion.
The investment will enable TeliaSonera to accelerate the 4G roll out to reach 98 percent population coverage by 2016 instead of 2018.
The acquisition will increase TeliaSonera’s mobile market share in Norway to approximately 40 percent from 23 percent while the mobile subscription base will increase to 2.7 million from 1.6 million.
“This is a great strategic fit for TeliaSonera and in line with our ambition to strengthen our position in our core markets. At the same time it enables us to both faster and further invest and deliver best in class services to the benefit of Norwegian customers and society,” said Johan Dennelind, president and CEO of TeliaSonera.
The acquisition is estimated to incur integration costs of between SEK 250-450 million and investments estimated to SEK 350 million in order to handle the increased traffic.
Cost synergies are estimated to at least SEK 800 million annually from 2016.
Tele2’s customers will have access to a nationwide 4G network which currently covers 3.2 million people.
