TeliaSonera Investor Day
Today at TeliaSonera’s Investor Day in Stockholm, Lars Nyberg, President and CEO, spoke about the business environment, TeliaSonera’s strategy, position and the need for new business models as well as the new brand identity.
“The demand for our services is greater than ever. Customers’ appetite for higher speed and more capacity makes both the mobile and fixed access businesses attractive. But as usage patterns change, there is also a need to develop new business and pricing models. Although we see that more and more operators are moving away from flat fee tariffs, it is inevitable that the future pricing structures must be tiered - based on speed, usage and quality”, Lars Nyberg said.
Nyberg also said that Eurasia continues to be the growth engine for the group. “There is still room to further expand voice penetration. But even more exciting is the untapped potential in mobile data. This requires affordable handsets and investments in high quality networks”.
“Our fixed networks remain a key strategic asset and in order to meet our customers’ demand for triple play and capacity hungry applications, we will invest more than SEK 8 billion in fiber until 2014, of which SEK 5 billion in Sweden. It will be a selective roll-out to ensure a good return on our investment. By the end of 2014 we have expanded our coverage to 2.3 million homes connected by fiber in the Nordic and Baltic countries, of which almost 1 million in Sweden”, Lars Nyberg said.
“Our ambition is to be number one or two in each market where we operate and a pioneer in this industry. To improve our position in the Danish mobile market we today announce a network sharing agreement with Telenor. The agreement involves the 2G, 3G and 4G (LTE) networks. Together, we will create Denmark’s best mobile network and thereby provide the best experience for customers using smartphones, tablets and mobile broadband”, Lars Nyberg said.
Nyberg also confirmed that the company will not bid for the Polish mobile operator Polkomtel. “We have done our homework thoroughly, weighed the pros and cons, and decided not to submit an offer. In respect of the company, the sellers and the ongoing process, we will not make any further comments".
Nyberg also said: “To maximize shareholder value, TeliaSonera will continue to have a disciplined approach to M&A and we will selectively look for new opportunities within or neighboring our current footprint. Any excess cash will be returned to shareholders. Taking into account the ordinary dividend in April and the recently completed buyback of SEK 10 billion we will be within our net debt to EBITDA target of 1.5-2.0 times “.
At the meeting, TeliaSonera reiterated its outlook for 2011 stating that the growth in net sales in local currencies and excluding acquisitions is expected to be around 3 percent. The EBITDA margin, excluding non-recurring items, in 2011 is expected to improve compared with 2010. The CAPEX-to-sales ratio is expected to be approximately 13-14 percent in 2011, excluding license and spectrum fees.
Other featured TeliaSonera speakers at the Investor Day included Per-Arne Blomquist, Executive Vice President and CFO, Håkan Dahlström, President Business area Mobility Services, Malin Frenning, President Business area Broadband Services and Tero Kivisaari, President Business area Eurasia.
TeliaSonera AB discloses the information provided herein pursuant to the Swedish Securities Markets Act and/or the Swedish Financial Instrument Trading Act. The information was submitted for publication at 9 a.m. CET on June 14, 2011.
For more information, please call the TeliaSonera press office 46-771 77 58 30, press@teliasonera.com
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements made in the press release relating to future status or circumstances, including future performance and other trend projections are forward-looking statements. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future. There can be no assurance that actual results will not differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements due to many factors, many of which are outside the control of TeliaSonera.
TeliaSonera provides network access and telecommunication services in the Nordic and Baltic countries, the emerging markets of Eurasia, including Russia and Turkey, and in Spain. TeliaSonera helps people and companies communicate in an easy, efficient and environmentally friendly way. Our ambition is to be number one or two in all our markets, providing the best customer experience, high quality networks and cost efficient operations. TeliaSonera is also the leading European wholesale provider with a wholly-owned international carrier network. In 2010, net sales amounted to SEK 107 billion, EBITDA to SEK 37.7 billion and earnings per share to SEK 4.73. The TeliaSonera share is listed on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm and NASDAQ OMX Helsinki. Read more at www.teliasonera.com