Telia announces changes to exec management; hits FY targets
January 30, 2025

Telia, the Swedish multinational telco, has announced the appointment of Bjørn Ivar Moen as Senior Vice President, Head of Telia Norway and member of the company’s Group Executive Management team, effective January 1st 2026 at the latest. Stein-Erik Vellan, currently Senior Vice President, Head of Telia Norway and member of the Group Executive Management team, has decided to take on an opportunity outside Telia. Vellan will remain in his position until July 31st 2025 at the latest.
Moen has a 25-year career in the telecommunication industry, primarily with Telenor. His most recent position was CEO of Telenor Sweden between 2021 and 2024, and he has held a wide range of additional leadership roles, including CEO of Telenor Broadcast and Canal Digital, acting CEO of Telenor Norway, and Chief Marketing Officer for Mobile/Consumer and Business at Telenor Norway. Additionally, he served as CEO of Allente, a joint venture between Telenor and Viaplay Group.
Patrik Hofbauer (pictured), Telia Company President and CEO, commented: “I am very happy to welcome Bjørn Ivar to Telia and our Group Executive Management team. With his extensive experience in building successful operator businesses and high-performing teams, Bjørn Ivar has the skills to develop our market-leading position in Norway, where Telia recently became the first to deliver nationwide 5G coverage. I would like to thank Stein-Erik for his contributions to Telia, which have been instrumental in establishing us as a leader in Norway, and I wish him all the best in his future endeavors.”
Moen will report to Hofbauer. An acting Head of Telia Norway will be appointed to lead the business following Vellan’s departure and until Moen joins Telia.
Meanwhile, Telia has reported that revenue increased 0.6 per cent to SEK 89,127 million (€7,773m). Service revenue increased 1.2 per cent to SEK 76,582 million. In Telco operations, service revenue increased 2 per cent.
“Momentum continued during the fourth quarter, with service revenue up by 1.5 per cent, in line with our expectations, and EBITDA growth rebounding to 5.8 per cent. We are delivering on our commitments, both in terms of financial results and organisational change. Our new country-led operating model was implemented as planned on December 1st. Through stronger local execution capabilities, together with significantly reduced and more focused common functions, we will be able to make the fast decisions needed to sustain our improving levels of customer satisfaction and drive continued profitable growth,” said Hofbauer.
Commercial progress
“In Sweden, the Consumer business continued to grow, primarily driven by fixed-line services. Mobile services, where the premium segment in which we are a leader is growing slower than the price-oriented market segment, had a softer development. TV grew particularly fast, up 20 per cent in the quarter, following years of consistent investment. Our TV aggregator strategy, combining the most attractive streaming services with linear TV channels, creates value both for customers and content partners, and it strengthens our converged household offering by driving demand and sharply reducing churn for broadband. In Enterprise, we saw negative growth, with customers making new investment decisions at a modest pace, although momentum improved again at the end of the quarter.”
“Finland generated stable service revenue and, like Sweden, growth in Consumer was offset by a decline in Enterprise. However, mobile grew for both Consumer and Enterprise, driven by increasing ARPUs. Consumer broadband is now one of the best performing product areas, with service revenue up 9 per cent in the quarter. Looking at Enterprise fixed-line revenue, the regulatory effects seen throughout 2024 exacerbated the impact of an overall weak market environment. However, overall EBITDA growth was 7 per cent, supported by lower personnel and energy costs.”
“Norway also grew mobile revenue but saw a decline in fixed-line revenue. The current momentum is unsatisfactory, and we are executing on multiple initiatives to improve this in the course of 2025, including both improved customer experience and commercial strategy. Positively, price increases for consumer mobile services were announced and had only a low impact on churn, our offering for local partners in TV and broadband continued to attract new customers, and the EBITDA margin remained strong.”
“Lithuania’s service revenue growth showed renewed momentum at 7 per cent, supported by both mobile and fixed, which converted into 9 per cent EBITDA growth as costs were unchanged. Enterprise saw a strong rebound, including new corporate customer contract wins.”
“Estonia produced more modest growth, which accelerated at the end of the quarter and to which all segments contributed positively. 5G coverage is now above 90 per cent, and our mobile network was recognised as having the highest quality in Estonia by Rohde & Schwarz. In the quarter, Telia Estonia launched Green Week instead of Black Week, doubling sales of refurbished phones.”
“TV and Media’s improvements accelerated, despite the ongoing sector-wide decline in linear advertising. The number of streaming customers increased by 45,000 and digital consumption by 18 per cent. The exit from the UEFA Champions League rights impacted revenue less than expected, while delivering a significant EBITDA improvement following a reduction in content costs.”
Financial progress
“We delivered on all our full-year financial targets, with service revenue growth at 1.8 per cent, EBITDA growth at 4.3 per cent, and CAPEX and cash flow well within our targeted levels. Our reported net debt to EBITDA remains firmly within our 2.0-2.5x target range, at 2.28x, despite reducing vendor financing to our target level of SEK 5.6 billion, less than half the level we had one year ago. In line with recent years, the Board of Directors has stated its intention to propose dividends of SEK 2 per share for 2024.”
“In line with our focus on active management of our asset portfolio, we have divested the first part of our portfolio of copper-related real estate Sweden in Q4 for SEK 0.2 billion and, after the end of the quarter, we agreed to sell our 9.6 per cent share of Marshall Group for 1.2 billion.”
Looking ahead
“Our new organisation is fully focused on delivering on our ambitious plans in 2025. Today we reiterate the financial outlook we provided in September, with full-year service revenue growth of around 2%, EBITDA growth of at least 5 per cent and booked CAPEX below SEK 14 billion, as well as Free cash flow of around SEK 8 billion. We are entering 2025 well-positioned to meet these targets. As I start my second year at Telia, we have our operating model, strategy and financial targets for the mid-term in place. At the same time, we are working hard to build a high-performance culture, which will both support us in reaching our goals and make Telia even more attractive for customers, employees and investors. We have a unique platform to grow our business and contribute to our societies, with millions of people relying on our networks and services every day. In 2025, we will do just that.”