Telia Group ended 2018 with 2.4 million subscribers to its TV services, up from 1.778 million a year earlier.
Although the growth was largely accounted for by Norway, where it added 504,000 to the total through the acquisition of Get and TDC Norway, the number of TV subscribers in Sweden grew by 68,000 in the year to a total of 865,000, while in Finland the figure increased by 45,000 to 553,000. On the other hand, the totals were practically unchanged in Lithuania (242,000) and Estonia (+2,000 to 212,000) and fell from 31,000 to 24,000 in Denmark. TV ARPUs in local currency grew slightly in Estonia and Lithuania but fell in Sweden and Finland.
Telia posted net sales of SEK83,559 million (€8,132 million) in Q4 2018, up from SEK79,790 million a year earlier. Its net income from continuing operations was SEK9,489 million (SEK8,492 million), but when discontinued operations were factored in fell to SEK3,090 million (SEK10,243 million).
Separately,Telia has announced important changes in its group executive management. These see Peter Borsos, senior VP, head of group communications and chair of Division X, take on a new role and become head of Telia Global. Meanwhile, Åsa Jamal, currently head of communications, Telia Sweden, has been appointed head of group communications and a member of the Group Executive Management.
Commenting on these changes, Johan Dennelind, President and CEO of Telia Company, said: “With these changes within the Group Executive Management, we secure a continued strong focus on the execution of our strategy where we need to increase our growth within new prioritised areas. We also secure a continuity in fostering the corporate culture, sustainability efforts and commercial drive where we have a strong underlying cost-consciousness”.
