DUSHANBE, October 6, 2015, Asia-Plus – TeliaSonera President Erik Hallberg, heading TeliaSonera delegation, arrived in Dushanbe on an official visit on October 1, according to press release issued by TeliaSonera.
During the visit, he reportedly met with senior representatives of Tcell and journalists.
While in Dushanbe he also held talks with Ambassador Hidajet Biscevic, Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Tajikistan.
The two sides reportedly discussed a broad range of issues, including the macroeconomic problems of the region, the economic situation in Tajikistan, the investment climate and taxation problems in the country.
TeliaSonera has operated in Tajikistan since March 2010, investing in Closed Joint-Stock Company Indigo Tajikistan (Tcell trademark).
International media outlets report Nordic telecom operator TeliaSonera will gradually abandon its Central Asian markets, hit by years of investigations into alleged corruption linked to local partners and problems accessing cash in distant countries.
Exiting seven countries which account for a fifth of its sales and where mobile telephony is expanding raises questions about how Telia intends to grow as it focuses more on its mature home markets in the Nordics and Baltics.
TeliaSonera CEO Johan Dennelind reportedly said work done to improve corporate governance in Nepal, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Tajikistan made it possible to sell these businesses to others, although Telia had been unable to solve crucial underlying problems.
Last month, TeliaSonera announced it would sell its business interests in Uzbekistan, where it has also become ensnared in the corruption investigation, which is also taking place in Switzerland, the Netherlands, Sweden, and elsewhere.
Reuters
reports Turkcell, Turkey”s largest mobile operator in which Telia owns 38 percent, said last month it would consider buying some of Telia”s assets.
Meanwhile, Norwegian telecom giant Telenor says it will sell its remaining stake in the Russian phone company VimpelCom, according to
Radio Liberty
.
The announcement on October 5 by Telenor to sell its 33 percent stake in VimpelCom, reportedly valued at around $2.4 billion, comes as VimpelCom faces a U.S. corruption investigation stemming from its operations in Uzbekistan.
