Title 1(141) Telia’s history English version Compiled for TeliaSonera AB by John Geary Johan Martin-Löf Claes-Göran Sundelius Bertil Thorngren Stockholm March 2010 200225 Telia's history-corr Contents 2(141) Contents Preface ................................................................................................................................ 4 1 Source material ............................................................................................................. 4 2 The assignment ............................................................................................................ 4 3 The result ...................................................................................................................... 5 3.1 Sweden and Finland ........................................................................................... 5 3.2 Main outlines, (Short history) ........................................................................... 5 3.3 The History, (Main history) .............................................................................. 5 3.4 Chronology .......................................................................................................... 6 3.5 Appendices .......................................................................................................... 6 3.6 Background material .......................................................................................... 6 Telecom history in Sweden and Finland .............................................. 7 1 Sweden .......................................................................................................................... 7 2 Finland .......................................................................................................................... 7 Telia’s history, main outlines (Short History) ............................................... 9 1 1993-2002 – Telia’s development and new services ............................................... 9 2 Competition started early in Sweden ........................................................................ 9 3 Televerket’s transformation into Telia AB ............................................................ 10 4 New services in the 1980s ........................................................................................ 11 5 Building a telephone network in a de-facto monopoly ........................................ 11 Telia’s history (Main History)................................................................................ 13 1 Strategies and organisation ....................................................................................... 15 1.1 Business environment ...................................................................................... 17 1.2 Business strategies for the company .............................................................. 24 1.3 Technology and marketing efforts ................................................................. 30 1.4 Restructuring ..................................................................................................... 34 1.5 International alliances ...................................................................................... 38 1.6 Mergers .............................................................................................................. 41 1.7 Management and control of the business ..................................................... 43 1.8 Personnel issues ................................................................................................ 47 1.9 Environmental activities .................................................................................. 48 2 Domestic activities .................................................................................................... 50 2.1 Telecom services............................................................................................... 51 2.2 Radio and TV-distribution .............................................................................. 62 2.3 Complementary Services ................................................................................. 65 2.4 Side activities ..................................................................................................... 70 2.5 Support activities .............................................................................................. 75 200225 Telia's history-corr Contents 3(141) 3 Foreign multinational activities ............................................................................... 85 3.1 Multi-national co-operative organisations .................................................... 86 3.2 Cable consortia ................................................................................................. 94 3.3 Satellite organisations ....................................................................................... 96 3.4 International data, telephony and telegraphy services............................... 101 3.5 Infonet ............................................................................................................. 103 3.6 Teleinvest’s international services ................................................................ 104 3.7 STI, Swedish Telecom International AB .................................................... 105 3.8 Unisource ......................................................................................................... 105 3.9 International Carrier ....................................................................................... 107 4 Foreign national activities ....................................................................................... 109 4.1 The Nordic countries ..................................................................................... 110 4.2 The Baltic countries ....................................................................................... 115 4.3 The Baltic Sea area, other than the three Baltic countries ........................ 121 4.4 The rest of Europe and North-America ..................................................... 124 4.5 Africa ................................................................................................................ 129 4.6 Asia ................................................................................................................... 130 4.7 South America ................................................................................................ 132 5 Consultancy, Swedtel’s history .............................................................................. 134 5.1 The 1950s ........................................................................................................ 134 5.2 The 1960s ........................................................................................................ 135 5.3 The 1970s ........................................................................................................ 135 5.4 The 1980s ........................................................................................................ 135 5.5 1990-1994 ........................................................................................................ 136 5.6 1995-1999 ........................................................................................................ 137 5.7 The 2000s ........................................................................................................ 138 5.8 Swedtel facts .................................................................................................... 139 Telia’s history, chronology ................................................................................. 141 200225 Telia's history-corr Preface 4(141) Preface TeliaSonera AB was formed on 9th December 2002, when Swedish Telia AB merged with Finnish Sonera Oyj, two companies with long histories. Telia came into existence when the Swedish incumbent Televerket was corporatized in 1993. In Finland the Post and Telecommunications was corporatized in 1994 and Telecom Finland became a subsidiary company. It changed name to Sonera in 1998 when the company was launched on the stock exchange. Telia was launched on the stock exchange in 2000. Televerket’s official history comprises seven sections (eight volumes) which were published (only in Swedish) between 1931 and 1997, plus several other books. Telecom Finland’s (and its predecessor’s) official history comprises two volumes published in 1996 to commemorate the Finnish telegraph’s second centenary. A condensed English version also exists. In Telia’s case, from 1993 onwards there exists no written historical record of the company other than annual reports. This document attempts to correct that situa- tion, primarily between 1993 and 2002. Its purpose is to describe and explain the immense changes and extensive expansions which have taken place within Telia, both in Sweden and abroad. The target audience for this work is the Group’s own past and present personnel and those who are curious about the company’s direc- tion and development. This history can hopefully also contribute to further acade- mic research on the telecom development and be a basis for analysis of Telia’s role in this development 1 Source material A central source for this work has been the company’s annual reports, which from 1999 are available on TeliaSonera’s web site. In addition more than 40 interviews have been conducted with key employees, past and present, to collect supplemen- tary information. Additional material has