Telenor history

In 1901, however, the state-owned Norwegian Telegraph Administration (NTA) made its first move to establish control over the sector, taking over the telephone exchange serving Christiania.

The appointed director, Andreas Hadland, steps down in 1945.

In 1967, Norway introduced one of the world's first mobile telephone systems, an analog-based, manually operated system.

1969: NTA launches its first data transmissions and changes its name to Norwegian Telecommunications Administration (Televerket).

1/1"Container" exchange, dated 1978, next to Kulleseid telegraph station.

1981: The first automated mobile telephone system is launched.

In 1993, the company joined the consortium setting up the Pannon GSM mobile telephone network in Hungary.

The restructuring effort required some four years to complete, and included Televerket's transformation from a state-owned enterprise to a public corporation in 1994.

The company also acquired a 13 percent stake in Northwest GSM, which launched cellular phone services in St Petersburg in 1995.

ETL then formed a joint venture with Montenegro's PTT to launch ProMonte, the country's first and largest mobile phone service, which became operational in 1996.

The company joined consortiums acquiring licenses and building GSM-based networks in Germany, Ireland, Greece, and Austria in 1997 alone.

The full deregulation of the Norwegian market was completed in 1998.

2000: Telenor is privatized with the largest ever public offering in Norway; the company acquires a stake in Sonofon, in Denmark.

Telenor would go on to sell its stake in North-West GSM in 2001.

The merger between Telia and Finland's Sonera in 2002, however, put an end to those hopes as well.

Telenor closed out 2004 with the purchase of an additional stake in GrameenPhone, boosting its position to 62 percent of the Bangladesh operator.

From joining Telenor Satellite in February 2008, Jan now heads the Data Service Division.

In 2014, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, the United States Department of Justice and Dutch authorities opened investigations related to VimpelCom’s operations in Uzbekistan.

With over 19.000 employees (2016), Telenor has become one of the world’s largest mobile operators.

Telenor Group CEO Sigve Brekke challenges more than 30 000 employees in 12 countries to carry out 40 hours of training and education in 2018 to transform the workforce for a digital future.