Changes in Telenor Group's Executive Management

Telenor is implementing changes to the Group Executive Management team to strengthen the regions in the Nordics and Asia, as well as creating new units within infrastructure and adjacent services.

Digitisation is changing people's lives, and the changes that are now being made will provide more value to Telenor's customers and help them meet both new challenges and opportunities. To achieve this and position Telenor for future growth, Telenor is implementing changes to the Group Executive Management team as well as reorganising the business.

“We are strengthening Telenor and ensuring that all our businesses have focus and direction to grow and provide customers more value. We are reinforcing the collaboration and creating synergies between our four Nordic business units to develop new services more quickly and efficiently, while Asia will focus on building scale in partnership with others. At the same time, we are ramping up our efforts to develop existing and potentially new services and are setting ourselves up to strengthen the value of our infrastructure,” says Sigve Brekke, Telenor Group President & CEO.

Strengthened regions and increased focus on service development

In the Nordic region, all the four Nordic business units in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland are brought together under a new Head of Telenor Nordics, Petter-Børre Furberg. Furberg will represent all the Nordic companies, including Telenor Norway, in Telenor's executive management. The newly established management group in the Nordic region, which also includes the heads of the Nordic companies, will together further foster collaboration in the region. The previous Head of Nordics, Jukka Leinonen, retired in June.

The company's Asia operations has been enabled to take on a more autonomous direction led by Jørgen C. Arentz Rostrup. Telenor's regional office in Singapore is strengthened to support the merger processes in Thailand and Malaysia, as well as developing further the operations in Bangladesh and Pakistan.

“I strongly believe in strengthening our regions and giving them more independence. Our new Nordic organisation will bring us closer to customers and lay the foundation for synergies across all our businesses, and in Asia, we are gearing up to build scale in an increasingly digitalised region. I am very happy that Petter-Børre and Jørgen have agreed to lead the two regions. With these adjustments, we now have a strong organisation that is ready to further develop our positions and continue to deliver services people trust,” says Brekke.

Two new units have also been created – Telenor Infrastructure and Adjacent Business.

The new unit, Adjacent Business, will give Telenor focus and strength to further develop adjacent services within existing and potential new independent entities, as well as with others outside Telenor. The unit will be led by Dan Ouchterlony, who has a long career at Schibsted, where he was, among other things, part of the executive management and led the Financial Services and Venture division. Ouchterlony takes up the position on 19 September 2022.

Telenor Infrastructure will gather and refine the value of Telenor’s infrastructure in the Nordics. Jannicke Hilland, who has been CEO of Eviny, a power utility company, since 2015, takes over as head of the new unit on 1 October 2022.

New Head of Telenor Norway

The board of Telenor Norway has appointed Birgitte Engebretsen as the new CEO of Telenor Norway. She has over 20 years of experience in the IT and telecoms industry and has been the head of Telenor Norway’s business division since 2020. She takes up the new position on 1 September 2022.

“Under Birgitte's management, Telenor Norway has renewed our portfolio in the business market and developed our traditional business model. In the past year alone, several security and network solutions have been launched, which have strengthened Telenor's position. Birgitte is well equipped to lead Telenor Norway through the transformation that the entire company is now facing, says Petter-Børre Furberg.

“I am grateful for the trust given to me and look forward to the opportunity to lead one of Norway's most exciting companies. Together with incredibly competent colleagues at Telenor, we will build Telenor for the future and continue to create more value for customers,” says Birgitte Engebretsen and adds:

“Telenor is in the middle of a very important modernisation journey, and we have great growth potential in areas such as security, 5G, IoT and fibre. Therefore, we will continue to develop more relevant security services for both the private and business market while positioning ourselves for the next development phases within 5G – wireless broadband and private 5G networks are just the beginning,” says Engebretsen.

Telenor Group’s Executive Management*:

• Sigve Brekke, President & Chief Executive Officer of Telenor Group

• Tone Hegland Bachke, EVP & Chief Financial Officer of Telenor Group

• Ruza Sabanovic, EVP & Chief Technology Officer of Telenor Group

• Rita Skjærvik, EVP & Chief People, Sustainability and External Relations Officer of Telenor Group

• Petter-Børre Furberg, EVP & Head of Telenor Nordics

• Jørgen C. Arentz Rostrup, EVP & Head of Telenor Asia

• Dan Ouchterlony, EVP & Head of the newly established unit Adjacent Business from 19 September 2022

• Jannicke Hilland, EVP & Head of the newly established unit Telenor Infrastructure from 1 October 2022

Cecilie Heuch steps down from the Group Executive Management team and takes up her newly appointed role as CHRO of the Nordics. Her current area of responsibility, People and Sustainability is taken over by Rita Skjærvik in a merged group function.

* The new structure of Telenor Group Executive Management comes into effect on 1 September 2022.