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Sweden - Market Intelligence Report
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Market Intelligence Reports provide an invaluable mix of vital market data and background information, including telecoms regulation. Sweden has had a liberalised telecommunications market for many years, as alternative operators to the incumbent, Telia (now TeliaSonera, following the merger of the Swedish and Finnish incumbents at the end of 2002), were not required to hold licences until the Telecommunications Act was passed in 1993. Subsequently, a number of companies were licensed, the most prominent being Tele2, which was established as a small-scale international carrier in 1991 and has grown into a pan-European broadband carrier. Comvik - an affiliate of Tele2 - became Sweden's first competitive mobile operator, offering analogue cellular services in competition with Telia in 1981. The passage of new legislation (the Electronic Communications Act) in July 2003 - in line with new European Union (EU) directives - now means that licences are no longer required for new entrants to compete with the incumbent in the fixed-line telephony market. During 2005 and into 2006, there was some consolidation of the market, with a number of a large mergers. These primarily involved Telenor on the one hand, and a group led by The Carlyle Group on the other. Telenor is becoming the main challenger to TeliaSonera in the Swedish market. In November 2002, Telenor had entered into an agreement to acquire a majority interest in broadband service provider Utfors AB in a deal worth SKr264 million. In January 2004, Telenor acquired Internet5 - one of Sweden's largest Internet service providers. In May 2005, Telenor agreed to acquire broadband service provider B2 Bredband for SKr6,033 million, including debt, from the Carlyle Group. In August 2004, B2 had completed the acquisition of broadband rival, Bostream AB. In October 2005, Telenor entered into an agreement with Vodafone for the acquisition of cellular operator Vodafone Sverige AB for a consideration equivalent to €1,035 million; on completion of the transaction at the end of 2005, Vodafone Sverige was renamed Telenor Mobile Sverige. In February 2006, Telenor began building its ownership of alternative fixed-line operator Glocalnet, increasing its stake to 50.1%. Telenor subsequently purchased further shares from several large shareholders in Glocalnet and increased its stake to 77.7%. By the end of March 2006, Telenor controlled 96.6% of Glocalnet. In December 2005, the Carlyle Group and Providence Equity Partners signed an agreement to acquire cable TV operator Com Hem from EQT for an undisclosed amount. Carlyle had recently sold its investment in Bredbandsbolaget (B2) to Telenor. In April 2006, The Carlyle Group and Providence Equity Partners acquired UPC Sverige AB, the Swedish unit of Netherlands-based United Pan-Europe Communications NV (UPC), which itself had acquired Stjärn TV in July 1999, for SKr3,269 million. UPC had initially been owned by the City of Stockholm and began offering cable TV services in the capital in 1985, although it underwent several ownership changes prior to its acquisition by UPC, which had acquired Com Hem in January 2006. In March 2007, the Swedish government requested approval from the Riksdag to reduce ownership in six state-owned companies, including TeliaSonera. In May 2007, the government launched the sale of an 8% stake in TeliaSonera, as the first phase of the sell-off. The sale was only open to institutional investors. The centre-right government promised not to sell further TeliaSonera shares before April 2008 without the approval of its advisors. At the end of July 2007, the Swedish State held 37.3% of TeliaSonera, with the Finnish State holding 13.7%.
This Market Intelligence Report was produced as part of
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