TeliaSonera unveils new management structure following Uzbekistan affair

Nordic telco TeliaSonera has unveiled a comprehensive revamp of its management structure and has appointed a new senior management team following the scandal surrounding its Eurasia business unit and the way it conducted business in Uzbekistan.

TeliaSonera will launch a new model on April 1 that will see a strengthening of its local operations and the removal of the ‘business area’ layer of management.

TeliaSonera will create three geographic areas within which its country units will sit: Europe, Eurasia and Sweden.
A new group executive management team will consist of 12 members with a mix of international experience and relevant industry background, according to the company.

Erik Hallberg will replace Veysel Aral as president of business area Eurasia immediately, taking on the new role of executive vice-president, Eurasia, from April 1. Hallberg was previously president of TeliaSonera International Carrier.

The Swedish unit will be headed by current head of broadband services Malin Frenning, while the Europe unit will be led by current Finnish market chief Robert Andersson.

Two positions – commercial, and strategy and business development – remain vacant, while a new general counsel, Jonas Bengtsson, will take over legal affairs in January along with a new communications chief, Peter Borsos.

“The countries will be the leading dimension in this new operating model, which is where we interact with the customers. We remove the business area layer from the existing organization. Instead we strengthen the local operations and the mandate for Group functions to drive strategic questions and improve governance. We believe this model will enable us to offer our customers a better service at the same time as it clarifies accountability for our performance,” said Johan Dennelind, president and CEO of TeliaSonera.

The scandal over unethical business practices in the central Asian state led to the firing of four senior managers by TeliaSonera at the start of December.