Teliasonera to walk out of Ncell

Sep 17, 2015: European telecom Operator Teliasonera has decided to pull out its investment from the Eurasian region which includes Azerbaizan, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Maldova, Tajikistan and Nepal. The company is known to focus more on the Nordic and Baltic region. Now they have decided to exit Uzbekistan where it has come under heavy scrutiny from US authorities for one of the biggest scandal in Sweden.

Once, the company had the strategy of investing more on these region which was more beneficial revenue wise but now it has been facing both financial and judicial concerns in these region. Among those operators, Ncell, Here for Nepal has the largest subscriber base. It has also become the largest tax payer in Nepal from two consecutive years with revenue increased in the same proportion but it had major setback due to the misuse of Redcross sticker during the recent mega Earthquake in Nepal. There are more cases where Ncell is being investigated for fraud and nontransparent business.

“The Board of Directors has thoroughly examined what is best for our shareholders, operations, employees and customers. We have initiated a process to reduce TeliaSonera’s presence in Region Eurasia in order to effectively execute on our strategy. It is very positive that TeliaSonera’s focused work to improve sustainability has enabled the next step in the reshaping of TeliaSonera,” says TeliaSonera’s Chair of the Board, Marie Ehrling.

So it seems all of these operators will be put up for sale including Ncell here in Nepal. It is not yet known who is going to take the whole 80 percent share owned by them or they may decrease their presence gradually. We can only speculate Airtel, one of the biggest telecom operator in the world which is interested to invest in Nepal, may join the business negotiations with Teliasonera. Lets see how this news unfold later.