TeliaSonera has named Anders Olsson as COO, amid the company’s exit from Eurasia, fixed/mobile convergence in the Baltics and continued interest in selling Spanish business Yoigo. In last year’s biggest regulatory story, TeliaSonera and Telenor were forced to abandoned their agreed Danish JV following opposition from the European Commission.
TeliaSonera (STO:TLSN) has named Anders Olsson COO and head of global services and operations. Joining the company by 8 July at the latest, he will also become a member of the Swedish operator’s executive management team.
Olsson will move from compatriot rival Tele2 (STO:TEL2), where he is currently executive vice president of strategic projects.
Having joined Tele2 as a management trainee in 1997, he has previously been marketing director at Tele 2 Italy, CEO of Tele2 Germany and market area director in Central Europe and Benelux.
“I am very pleased that we have been able to attract Anders to join TeliaSonera. He has a long career in a successful company and his leadership and experience will be very valuable in the next phase of shaping of TeliaSonera,” said the company’s president and CEO Johan Dennelind.
Last year, TeliaSonera appointed Emil Nilsson as head of its Eurasian business, which it plans to exit. Elsewhere, it is merging its fixed and mobile units in Latvia and Lithuania, while its Spanish business, Yoigo, reportedly remains on the block.
Another development last year was the company’s decision to combine its group technology and commercial divisions into a single unit tasked with creating new business alongside country operations.