Baksaas opens world conference
Telenor's international expansion and experience from emerging markets were in focus when Telenor President and CEO Jon Fredrik Baksaas held his keynote address at the FT World Telecoms Conference in London on Monday this week.
Emerging markets - is the boom over or is it just beginning? Are growth rates in emerging markets already slowing down as supply begins to catch up with demand? What exciting new opportunities exist for growth strategies in 2009? These and similar questions were on the agenda as Telenor President and CEO Jon Fredrik Baksaas opened the conference, which was well attended with more than 200 participants.
Emphasising long term investment
Referring to the financial crisis, Baksaas started his presentation by giving a brief account of Telenor's international expansion, which has taken place despite ups and downs in the economy. Baksaas stressed the fact that Telenor was among the first international companies to invest in Thailand and Malaysia following the Asia crisis in 1997/98. Similarly, Telenor made its biggest investment in Russia (VimpelCom) in 1998 when all other investors fled the country, and was bold enough to enter Ukraine when the prospects or the Ukrainian economy were bleak. Elaborating on Telenor's emerging markets investments and Telenor's present position in high growth markets, Baksaas emphasised the long term and industrial nature of telecom investment and the need to see beyond the current turmoil and see that as part of the business cycle.
Opportunities - Broadband and new services
He touched upon themes such as innovation and the significant role mobile services play when it comes to developing all societies, not least in low income countries. Addressing the enormous potential for new services and increased usage, he stated that access to Internet in low income countries will have the same deep changing impact on people's lives as did the access to voice and SMS. Rounding off his presentation Baksaas provided the following answer to the question; is the boom over? "During my 15 minutes, another 17 000 people world wide have connected to a mobile network...."
Commenting on the conference as such, Baksaas said that this is an ideal arena from which Telenor can communicate its growth story. Similarly it provides a good opportunity to communicate and exchange experience with fellow operators and managers. Later in the day Kjell Morten Johnsen, Senior Vice President and Head of Telenor Russia participated in an Emerging Markets Leadership Panel. Together with CEOs from leading emerging markets telecoms operators, Johnsen gave his views on future consolidation trends in the industry.
Kjell Morten Johnsen, Senior Vice President and Head of Telenor Russia
India taking Telenor to new and higher level
Johnsen emphasised that the current turmoil in the financial markets will accelerate the underlying consolidation processes in the industry. With particular reference to the India acquisition, Johnsen gave examples of major emerging market operations that Telenor has successfully built up over time and expressed confidence that India will take Telenor to a new and higher level going forward.
