TeliaSonera to abandon country-based organisation structure

"Restructuring not end of Finland's Sonera"

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The Swedish-Finnish telecommunications company TeliaSonera is to change its present organisation based on operations in different countries. According to a plan announced on Wednesday, the company will be divided into four separate units that transcend national borders. The new areas are Mobility Services, Broadband Services, Integrated Enterprise Services and Eurasia.
      Juho Lipsanen, who is currently the head of the company’s operations in Finland, will head the Integrated Enterprise Services unit.
      TeliaSonera President and CEO Anders Igel said at a press conference in Stockholm on Wednesday that the aim is to make better use of cross-border synergies.
      He predicted that the company’s turnover would reach EUR 11 billion within a couple of years.
     
Three of the units will operate in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the Baltic States, and Spain. In addition to Lipsanen’s Enterprise Services unit, these include the Mobility Services and Broadband Services.
      The Mobility Services unit, with a turnover of EUR 4.4 billion and 7,000 employees, will be headed by Kenneth Karlberg.
      TeliaSonera Broadband Services are to be led by Anders Bruse. The unit has a turnover of EUR 4.3 billion, and 16,000 employees. It will also be responsible for traditional landline telephone services.
      The fourth business area, the Eurasia, operates in Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Moldova. Headed by Erdal Kurukan, it will also be responsible for developing TeliaSonera’s holdings in the Russian company Megafon and Turkey’s Turkcell. Its turnover is estimated at EUR 900 million.
     
Juha Lipsanen does not see the new arrangements as the end of Finland’s Sonera.
      "I think that this is a new start. The previous organisation could not be found in any textbook. Now it is organised in the same way as Nokia or ABB, for instance", Lipsanen said.


Links:
  TeliaSonera Press Release Nov. 15, 2006: TeliaSonera restructures to capture future growth

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