TeliaSonera is not a long-term owner in Region Eurasia

TeliaSonera is not a long-term owner in Region Eurasia

17 September 2015

TeliaSonera will increase focus on its Regions Europe and Sweden within the strategy of creating the new TeliaSonera. A process has been initiated in order to reduce the presence in Region Eurasia and over time fully leave.

TeliaSonera has since 2013 had great focus on taking Eurasia to the next level. Substantial improvements have been made in areas such as corporate governance and sustainability. It is our belief that it is possible to do business in Eurasia which are both profitable and sustainable but it is important to enter markets in a correct way.

Thanks to two years of hard work to improve the Eurasian operations, not least from a corporate governance and sustainability perspective, we now have better and more well-managed companies which we believe others can successfully develop further, says TeliaSonera's President and CEO Johan Dennelind.

We realise that this will be a complex task that will take time. We are conducting this process market by market as each country and operation has its unique situation, but the ambition is to eventually leave the entire region, says Johan Dennelind.

In the rapid change in the telecommunications market, the management and Board have decided to focus time and resources on developing the operations in the Regions Europe and Sweden, in line with the strategy.

The Board of Directors has thoroughly examined what is best for our shareholders, operations, employees and customers. We have initiated a process to reduce TeliaSonera's presence in Region Eurasia in order to effectively execute on our strategy. It is very positive that TeliaSonera's focused work to improve sustainability has enabled the next step in the reshaping of TeliaSonera, says TeliaSonera's Chair of the Board, Marie Ehrling.

Going forward TeliaSonera will focus on core areas such as connectivity and convergence while supplementing with new initiatives in areas that complement, and strengthen, the core business in Regions Europe and Sweden.

The process to reduce presence in Region Eurasia has started, however, at this stage it is not possible to estimate how long this will take. At the same time the shaping of new TeliaSonera is well under way. Meanwhile, TeliaSonera will continue to operate and develop the Eurasian operations in a sustainable and responsible way.

Today's announcement refers to region Eurasia, i.e Nepal, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Tajikistan.

Analyst and media telephone conference at 8.30 a.m. CET

TeliaSonera invites you to a conference call with TeliaSonera's President and CEO Johan Dennelind and CFO Christian Luiga.

A presentation will be available at www.teliasonera.com before the press and analyst conference.

Dial-in number: +44 (0) 1452 5555 66

Access code: 42454219

You can also listen to the conference call afterwards until September 23, 2015.

Replay number: +44 (0) 1452 5500 00

Access code: 42454219

Press Meeting at 10.00 a.m. CET in SwedishPlace: TeliaSonera's Head Office, Stureplan 8, Stockholm

Mrs Marie Ehrling, Chair of the Board of TeliaSonera and Mr Johan Dennelind, President and CEO will participate.

Press identification card or similar is required to attend.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 7 a.m. CET on September 17, 2015.

For more information, please contact the TeliaSonera press office 46 771 77 58 30, press@teliasonera.com, visit our Newsroom or follow us on Twitter @TeliaSoneraAB.

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.

LINK:	http://www.teliasonera.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2015/9/teliasone...
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