Editing Telenor (section)

==History==
[[File:Telenor Fornebu.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Telenor headquarters at [[Fornebu]] just west of Oslo, Norway. This is the western section containing group staffs and - as tenants - the offices of Huawei Norway.]]
[[File:Telenor HQ 020920089742.jpg|thumb|right|Telenor headquarter eastern section, containing Telenor Broadcast and Telenor Norway.]]
[[File:Sigve Brekke, Uninor.jpg|thumb|right|CEO [[Sigve Brekke]], head of the Telenor Group since August 2015]]
[[File:Baksaas Fredrik Svanberg dec 2008.jpg|thumb|right|Former CEO Fredrik Baksaaas (left) with Ericsson CEO Carl-Henrik Svanberg, 2008.]]
[[File:Telenor SIM.jpg|thumb|Old style ''Telenor Mobile'' [[Subscriber Identity Module|SIM]], with the former company logo.]]
[[file:Standard Telefon og Kabel TELE 2013 03 014 05.jpg |thumb|right|[[Kjell Holler]] (right) was a Norwegian industrialist who headed Televerket, after having served as Minister of Industry of Norway.]]

===Telegraph===
Telenor started off in 1855, as a state-operated [[monopoly]] provider of [[telegraph]] services named '''Telegrafverket'''. The first Norwegian planning  for a telegraph were launched within the [[Royal Norwegian Navy]] in 1848, but by 1852, the plans were public and the [[Storting|Parliament of Norway]] decided on a plan for constructing a telegraph system throughout the country. Televerket began by connecting [[Oslo|Christiania]] (now Oslo) to [[Sweden]] (Norway was at that time in a [[Sweden-Norway|union with Sweden]]) as well as Christiania and [[Drammen]]. By 1857, the telegraph had reached [[Bergen]] on the west coast via [[Sørlandet]] on the south coast, and by 1871, it had reached [[Kirkenes]] on the far north coast. Cable connections were opened to [[Denmark]] in 1867 and to [[Great Britain]] in 1869. The telegraph was most important for the merchant marine who now could use the electric telegraph to instantly communicate between different locations, and get a whole new advantage from better [[logistics]].<ref>[[Tore Pryser|Pryser, Tore]] (1999) ''Norsk Historie 1814-1860'', volume four of ''[[Norsk historie (Samlaget)|Norsk historie]]''. Det Norske Samlaget, Oslo {{ISBN|82-521-5184-1}}</ref>

===Telephone===
[[File:Coat of arms of the Norwegian Telegraph Administration.svg|thumb|old logo]]
The first telephone service in Norway was offered in 1878, between [[Arendal]] and [[Tvedestrand]], while the first international telephone service between Christiania and [[Stockholm]] was offered in 1893. Automation of the telephone system was started in 1920, and completed in 1985. In 1946, the first [[Telex|Telex service]] was offered, and in 1976, [[satellite]] telephone connections to the Norwegian merchant navy, at the time the largest in the world and to [[oil platform]]s in the [[North Sea]] were made operational. This is the start of [[Inmarsat]] Satellite Communication, and formed the first steps to [[Digital data|digital]]ise the telephone network in 1980–1985.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.telenor.no/om/virksomhet/historie/kronologi/ |title=Telenor: Om Telenor > Virksomhet > Historie > Kronologi |access-date=2006-08-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060823193738/http://www.telenor.no/om/virksomhet/historie/kronologi/ |archive-date=2006-08-23 }}</ref>

Televerket opened its first [[Mobile radio telephone|manual mobile telephone system]] in 1966, being replaced with the automatic [[Nordic Mobile Telephone|NMT system]] in 1981, and the enhanced NMT-900 in 1986. Norway was the first country in to get an automatic mobile telephone system. The [[Digital data|digital]] [[Global System for Mobile Communications|GSM system]] came into use in 1993. The [[3G|third generation of mobile technology]] with [[Global System for Mobile Communications|UMTS system]] began full operation 2004.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.telenor.no/om/virksomhet/historie/ |title=Telenor: Om Telenor > Virksomhet > Historie |access-date=2006-08-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060819042941/http://www.telenor.no/om/virksomhet/historie/ |archive-date=2006-08-19 }}</ref> The [[Opera (web browser)|Opera]] [[web browser]] was created in 1994 by [[Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner]] and [[Geir Ivarsøy]] during their tenure at Telenor, and  [[Opera Software]] was established in 1995, when they  went on to continue development of their browser.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Opera is the oldest browser, and it is still surviving: Jon Tetzchner, founder, Opera software |url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/qna/opera-is-the-oldest-browser-and-it-is-still-surviving-jon-tetzchner-founder-opera-software/articleshow/7068303.cms |date=9 December 2010 |first=Debjoy |last=Sengupta |work=[[The Economic Times]]}}</ref> Telenor and Huawei conducted a  successful test of 5G with 70&nbsp;Gbit/s Speeds in Lab environment.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://paktechinfo.com/telenor-and-huawei-conduct-successful-test-of-5g-demo-in-norway/|title=Telenor and Huawei Conduct Successful Test of 5G with 70 Gbps Speeds| date=20 November 2021 }}</ref>

===Deregulation and internationalisation===
The corporation changed its name to '''Televerket''' in 1969. In 1994, then the Norwegian Telecom was established as a [[Government-owned corporation|public corporation]]. The telecom sector in Norway, was deregulated in stages between 1994 and 1998. An attempt to merge Telenor with its counterpart in [[Sweden]], [[Telia Company|Telia]], failed in 1999, while both still were owned by their respective governments. On 4 December 2000, the company was partially [[privatised]] and listed on [[Oslo Stock Exchange]] and [[NASDAQ]].<ref>{{cite web | publisher=sky-brokers.com | title= Telenor: Telenor Satellite Services (TSS)| url=https://sky-brokers.com/supplier/telenor-satellite-services-tss/}}</ref> The privatisation gave the company {{NOK|15.6 billion|link=yes}} in new [[Capital (economics)|capital]], with the [[Government of Norway]] owning 77.7 percent of the company. As of 2014, the Norwegian government holds 53.97 percent of the Telenor shares directly and another 4.66 percent through the [[Government Pension Fund of Norway|Government Pension Fund Norway]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.telenor.com/investors/major-shareholdings/ |title=Telenor Group &#124; Major Shareholdings |access-date=2014-11-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150912190233/http://www.telenor.com/investors/major-shareholdings/ |archive-date=2015-09-12 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In the second half of the 1990s, Telenor began mobile operations in other countries: [[Russia]] (1994), [[Bangladesh]], [[Greece]], [[Ireland]], [[Germany]] and [[Austria]] (1997), [[Ukraine]] (1998), [[Malaysia]] (1999), [[Denmark]] and [[Thailand]] (2000), [[Hungary]] (2002), [[Montenegro]] (2004), [[Pakistan]] (2004), [[Slovakia]], [[Czech Republic]], [[Serbia]] (2006), [[Myanmar]] (2014). Operations in Greece, [[Ireland]] and Germany were sold in 1999/2000, and profits were re-invested in  emerging markets. In October 2005, Telenor acquired [[Vodafone]] Sweden, changing the name to Telenor in April 2006.

[[Grameenphone]] was the first Telenor venture in the Asian telecom market and is now the largest mobile operator in [[Bangladesh]], Telenor holds 55.8 per cent of the company. Grameenphone started trading its shares on the stock exchanges in [[Dhaka Stock Exchange|Dhaka]] and Chittagong on 16 November 2009. The success of Grammeenphone lead to an increased focus on Asia, with successful entries into [[Malaysia]], [[Thailand]], [[Pakistan]] and [[Myanmar]]. Telenor also entered [[India]], but had to withdraw from that market in 2017, with substantial losses.

In March 2018, Telenor sold its business in Southeast Europe ([[Telenor (Bulgaria)|Bulgaria]], [[Telenor Hungary|Hungary]], [[Telenor Montenegro|Montenegro]] and [[Telenor Serbia|Serbia]]) to the [[PPF (company)|PPF Group]], for a sum of 2.8 billion euros in order to focus more on Asia and the Nordic market.<ref name="TelenorSale">{{cite news|last1=Dagenborg|first1=Joachim|last2=Knudsen|first2=Camilla|title=Norway's Telenor exits central Europe with $3.4 billion asset sale to Czech investor PPF|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-telenor-m-a/norways-telenor-exits-central-europe-with-3-4-billion-asset-sale-to-czech-investor-ppf-idUSKBN1GX0NQ|access-date=21 March 2018|work=reuters.com|date=21 March 2018}}</ref> 
 
In 2019, Telenor bought [[DNA Oyj|DNA]], the third largest mobile operator in [[Finland]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Telenor buys majority stake in Finland's DNA for $1.7 billion |website=[[Reuters]] |date=9 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220111091636/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-telenor-m-a-dna/telenor-buys-majority-stake-in-finlands-dna-for-17-billion-idUSKCN1RL0IV |archive-date=2022-01-11 |url-status=live |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-telenor-m-a-dna/telenor-buys-majority-stake-in-finlands-dna-for-17-billion-idUSKCN1RL0IV}}</ref>

On 21 June 2021, [[Axiata]], Telenor and [[Digi Telecommunications|Digi]] agree to a potential merger of [[Celcom]] and Digi to create a stronger telco in Malaysia, which if approved will be completed by the end of 2022. This come after advanced discussions two months earlier.<ref>{{cite web |title=Axiata, Telenor and Digi Sign Transaction Agreements for the Proposed Merger of Celcom and Digi |url=https://www.axiata.com/media/news/axiata-telenor-and-digi-sign-transaction-agreements-proposed-merger-celcom-and-digi |website=Axiata |access-date=21 June 2021 |date=21 June 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Axiata and Telenor in Advanced Discussions to Merge Celcom and Digi |url=https://www.axiata.com/media/news/axiata-and-telenor-advanced-discussions-merge-celcom-and-digi |website=Axiata |access-date=21 June 2021 |date=8 April 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Axiata, Telenor, Digi sign agreements to merge Malaysian mobile ops |url=https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2021/06/21/axiata-telenor-digi-sign-agreements-to-merge-malaysian-mobile-ops |website=The Star |access-date=21 June 2021 |date=21 June 2021}}</ref> The deal was approved by both Celcom and Digi shareholders on 18 November 2022. The merged company is named CelcomDigi. At completion, Axiata and Telenor will hold equal ownership of 33.1 percent each in the newly merged company. The merger was completed on 30 November 2022 and the company began its operation the next day.<ref>[https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2022/11/18/axiata-shareholders-approve-proposed-celcom-digi-merger Axiata shareholders approve proposed Celcom-Digi merger]</ref><ref>[https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2022/11/18/digi-gets-shareholders039-green-light-for-proposed-merger-with-celcom Digi gets shareholders' green light for proposed merger with Celcom]</ref><ref>[https://www.nst.com.my/business/2022/12/856517/axiata-telenor-complete-celcom-digi-merger Axiata, Telenor complete Celcom-Digi merger]</ref><ref>[https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/axiata-telenor-announce-completion-celcomdigi-merger Axiata, Telenor announce completion of Celcom-Digi merger]</ref><ref>[https://finance.yahoo.com/news/axiata-telenor-announce-successful-completion-101900485.html Axiata and Telenor Announce the Successful Completion of the Celcom and Digi Merger]</ref><ref>[https://www.telenor.com/media/newsroom/announcement/historic-merger-marks-new-chapter-in-malaysias-digitalisation-journey-we-are-in-pole-position/ Historic merger marks new chapter in Malaysia’s digitalisation journey: “We are in pole position.”]</ref>

On 22 November 2021, Telenor and [[Charoen Pokphand|Charoen Pokphand Group]], officially announced they have agreed to explore a USD 8.6 billion merger plan between Thailand’s second and third largest telecom operators (by subscribers), True Corporation (TRUE) and [[Total Access Communication]] (DTAC) – the proposed merger is subject to regulatory approvals.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.yozzo.com/insights/a-deep-dive-into-the-true-dtac-merger-in-thailand/|title=A deep dive into the TRUE/DTAC merger in Thailand| work=Yozzo.com|access-date=2022-01-06}}</ref> The merger was "acknowledged" by the regulator NBTC at a meeting on October 20, 2022.<ref>[https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Telecommunication/Thai-telecoms-regulator-allows-7.3bn-True-DTAC-merger Thai telecoms regulator allows $7.3bn True-DTAC merger]</ref> The newly merged company still retain the True Corporation name, which was founded on 1 March 2023 and it was listed on the [[Stock Exchange of Thailand]] under the stock ticker symbol TRUE on 3 March 2023.<ref>[https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/2481210/merged-true-dtac-to-be-called-true-corp Merged True-DTAC to be called True Corp]</ref>