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| Type | Public (OMX: TEL2 B) |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1993 |
| Headquarters | Stockholm, Sweden |
| Key people | Vigo Carlund (Chairman of the board), Harri Koponen (President and CEO) |
| Industry | Telecommunications |
| Products | Mobile and fixed-line telephony, cable TV and internet services |
| Revenue | SEK 39,505 million (2008)[1] |
| Operating income | ▲ SEK 2,754 million (2008)[1] |
| Profit | ▲ SEK 1,718 million (2008)[1] |
| Employees | 5,350 (2008)[1] |
| Website | www.tele2.com |
Tele2 AB is one of Europe's biggest telecommunications operators, with about 24 million customers in 11 countries. It serves as a fixed-line telephone operator, cable television provider, mobile phone operator and internet service provider.
Contents |
Overview
Tele2 started as a telecommunications company in Sweden in the late 1970s by the company Industriförvaltnings AB Kinnevik. In 1981, a mobile phone provider called Comvik started as an alternative mobile phone operator to Telia. The cable television provider Kabelvision AB started in 1986. Comvik changed it name to become Comviq when the company got a GSM license in 1988 and started operating in 1992.
In 1991, Sweden's first commercial ISP was started with the Swedish IP Network (SWIPnet, AS1257) by Industriförvaltnings AB Kinnevik, later known as Tele2, and in 1997 with telephone liberalisation in Sweden, Tele2 started to offer international calls.
The three companies of Comviq, Kabelvision, and Tele2 came together as the Tele2 brand on fixed-line services and Comviq on mobile services in Sweden in 1997. International growth came in the form of acquisitions in Estonia, Latvia, Russia & France. Today it serves as a major telephone company in the Nordic and Baltic nations, together as an alternative provider in many others.
Tele2 operates in Austria, Croatia, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Sweden, Montenegro (planned).
Divestments
Tele2's most recent development has been to realign its geographic footprint towards Eastern Europe and the Nordic region focusing on own infrastructure based operations which provide higher growth options and possibly better margins for the future. One area of notable success has been the growth of the mobile Internet broadband connectivity.
In 2007 the company sold its holdings in Belgium to Dutch operator KPN, in France to SFR and activities in Spain, Italy and Portugal to Vodafone and in Switzerland to TDC Sunrise. In March 2008 Tele2 divested its Austrian MVNO operations to Telekom Austria, although retaining its fixed line and internet services. In June 2008 Tele2 sold its Liechtenstein and Luxembourg holdings to Belgian operator Belgacom. The same month Tele2 sold its Polish operations to Netia.
Criticism
During its operation in the United Kingdom, Tele2 was criticised for using the practice of telephone slamming (changing consumer's residential phone line over to a new provider without their consent). [2]
The company was also criticised for faking a meteorite landing in Latvia in October 2009, as a result of which the Latvian government cancelled its contract with Tele2.[3]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d "Annual Results 2008". Tele2. http://hugin.info/133413/R/1288826/291256.pdf. Retrieved 2009-03-10.
- ^ "When slamming the phone prompts a row". The Guardian. 2005-04-23. http://money.guardian.co.uk/phones/story/0,13283,1466811,00.html. Retrieved 2008-04-30.
- ^ Ward, Andrew (2009-10-28). "Tele2 in a hole over "meteor" publicity stunt". The Financial Times (CNN). http://edition.cnn.com/2009/BUSINESS/10/27/latvia.fake.meteor.ft/. Retrieved 2009-11-02.
External links
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