New record reached for Telia’s teleconference service during financial crisis – Dream threshold of 100,000 meeting hours passed in October

Usage of virtual meeting services has accelerated during 2008. In October, Telia’s Swedish enterprise customers passed the dream threshold of 100,000 teleconferencing hours in a single month. Video conferences are also gaining strong momentum.

Compared to last year, Telia’s teleconferencing service in Sweden has grown an average of 12-13 percent per month during 2008, but in September – when the severity of the financial crisis became more and more apparent – teleconference usage increased by 30 percent, compared to 2007.

“Greater environmental awareness and tougher times have naturally been contributing factors behind this strong development trend,” says Sverker Hannervall, head of Business Services at TeliaSonera in Sweden. ”At the same time, there is strong potential for increasing the use of this service by our customers.”

One out of five companies is using teleconferences today. In one year, usage has increased by 140 percent, from 9 to 22 percent. Video conferences are also gaining ground and have increased by almost 200 percent in one year, from 7 to 20 percent. (Source: Telia Trend Report 2008).

To capitalize on the growing customer interest for virtual meetings, Telia is broadening its offering of video conferencing services together with Tandberg, the leading global provider of products and services for telepresence, HD-video communication and mobile video.

Image and audio quality are becoming more and more important for making video conferences a viable alternative to physical meetings. Telia is now offering a complete turnkey solution for high-definition video conferencing for both small and large enterprises.

TeliaSonera in Sweden has also increased its use of virtual meeting services. Between 2001 and 2007, Telia reduced the number of business trips by half for its employees and reduced its carbon dioxide emissions by 70 percent. Video- and teleconferences have saved Telia approximately SEK 130 million in costs per year.

¬“By using video conferencing and other virtual meeting services, we can communicate with employees and customers quickly and smoothly, and reduce at the same time our travel costs and act in a climate-smart way,” says Sverker Hannervall. “Today, businesses are no longer hesitating to use video services because of their improved quality and increased simplicity.”

For further information journalists can contact:
The TeliaSonera Press Office, +46-(0)8-713 58 30