Juho Lipsanen to lead Finnish operations of TeliaSonera

Surprise appointment of former Alma Media boss

print this

Juho Lipsanen, 44, has been named President of TeliaSonera Finland, effective from October. Lipsanen, who was removed from his previous position as President of Alma Media in the spring, will also join the company’s Executive Management.
      The announcement was made on the same day that the Nordic telecommunications company announced a negative result for the second quarter of this year.
      Lipsanen faces a number of challenges in his new post, as Finland was a very difficult area for the company in the April - June period. Especially hard hit has been mobile telephony operations, which are under heavy price pressure caused by intense competition.
     
"If TeliaSonera had been the most profitable company in the country and won the best workplace prize, I probably would not have been interested", said Lipsanen at a press conference in Helsinki on Wednesday. Lipsanen begins his work in October.
      Meanwhile, TeliaSonera President and CEO Anders Igel said at a press conference in Stockholm that the company had applications from several strong candidates for the post both from inside the company and outside.
      "We finally decided on Lipsanen, because we felt that someone coming from the outside would have significant possibilities to improve our business activities and to put us back on the map", Igel said, when asked why provisional President Esa Korvenmaa was not named to the post.
     
Finnish managers have not had an easy time at TeliaSonera, which was formed through the merger of the Swedish telecommunications company Telia and the Finnish Sonera.
      In March 2004 Tapio Hintikka, the Chairman of the Board of TeliaSonera, was sent packing, and last summer, Deputy CEO Harri Koponen had to leave, as he did not get along with Igel. Anni Vepsäläinen, the former President of TeliaSonera Finland, left voluntarily in April.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  TeliaSonera Finland President resigns (26.4.2005)

Links:
  TeliaSonera Press Release: Juho Lipsanen appointed President of TeliaSonera Finland

Helsingin Sanomat