• Telenor has announced a management team reshuffle
• The move ties in with the strategic priorities set out at the end of last year
• Among the changes are the appointment of a chief technology and transformation officer and a new head of strategy with responsibility for sovereign services and AI factories 

Telenor has unveiled a new group management team that will preside over a “simplified organisational structure” that ties in with the strategy outlined in November 2025 during the telco’s capital markets day: As part of the reshuffle, which comes into effect on 18 August, it has created two key new roles – chief technology and transformation officer, and chief corporate development officer. 

Under president and CEO Benedicte Schilbred Fasmer’s new plan, Telenor’s four current divisions (or ‘business areas’) – Nordics, Asia, Amp (the unit of the Nordic telco that manages and scales its strategic investments) and Infrastructure (towers, datacentres, AI infrastructure) – will be replaced with “a more country-centric structure” that will see the current Nordic Business Area layer removed and the Nordic country CEOs taking a seat on the management team to “ensure that customer, market and financial perspectives will be more closely reflected in group-level decision-making,” noted Telenor in this announcement. 

In the Nordics, Telenor has operations in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark, while its Asia division currently comprises operations in Thailand (a 30.3% stake in True Corp. that is currently being divested), Malaysia (a 33.1% stake in CelcomDigi) and Bangladesh (a 55.8% stake in Grameenphone).  Telenor recently completed the sale of its operations in Pakistan to PTCL. (More on the leadership of these operations later.)

Meanwhile, the responsibility for technology, strategic developments and infrastructure is being reassigned. 

The chief technology and transformation officer post will be filled by Jon Omund Revhaug, who is currently head of Telenor’s Asia division. The new role “will drive technology-led transformation and simplification, delivering cross-business unit efficiencies and synergies at scale across the group,” noted Telenor.

Current group CTO Cathal Kennedy isn’t leaving the company, according to Telenor, which tells TelecomTV that he will continue at the operator in a new (but as yet unspecified) capacity. Kennedy recently discussed smart networks, AI factories and sovereignty during a recent interview with TelecomTV. 

Another new and important role is that of chief corporate development officer, a post that will be filled by Inger Gløersen Folkeson, who is currently head of customer and commercial at Telenor Nordics and was previously director of Telenor group strategy (2007-2016). 

Folkeson will be responsible for “defining long-term strategic direction and helping build Telenor’s future revenue streams… [she] will manage a development portfolio with assets across various industry lifecycle stages, including the current Telenor Amp portfolio, AI Factory, Skygard and Sovereign Cloud.” The development portfolio will be led by Dan Ouchterlony (the current head of Amp) who will report to Folkeson.

Telenor was one of the first telcos to announce and build its own AI factory, which launched for commercial services in late 2024. Skygard is a datacentre joint venture, co-owned by Telenor and fellow Norwegian companies Hafslund and HitecVision, while the sovereign cloud unit was formed earlier this month.  

Like Kennedy, the current head of Telenor Infrastructure, Jannicke Hilland, is remaining with Telenor in a new capacity, according to the operator. Hilland recently talked to TelecomTV about why Telenor decided to invest in its own AI infrastructure. 

As a result, the new management team as of mid-August will be as follows: 

President and CEO – Benedicte Schilbred Fasmer.  

Group CFO – Torbjørn Wist (unchanged). For 2025, Telenor reported organic service revenue growth of 2% to 61.19bn Norwegian krone (NOK) ($6.6bn) and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) growth of 3.9% to NOK34.36bn ($3.7bn).

Chief technology and transformation officer (new role) – Jon Omund Revhaug.

Chief corporate development officer (new role) – Inger Gløersen Folkeson.

CEO Telenor Norway – Birgitte Engebretsen (unchanged role but new to the top management team). 

CEO Telenor Sweden – Jonas Edén (unchanged role but new to the top management team). 

CEO DNA (Finland) – Jussi Tolvanen (unchanged role but new to the top management team). 

CEO Telenor Denmark – Lars Thomsen (unchanged role but new to the top management team). 

Head of Telenor Asia – replacement for Jon Omund Revhaug is yet to be appointed 

Acting chief people and organisation officer (new role) – Elisabeth Melander Stene, a new appointment who has previously served as head of people at both Telenor Norway and Telenor Nordics. Telenor is in the process of clarifying a future role for the current head of people, sustainability and external relations, Rita Skjærvik. 

Chief corporate affairs officer (new role) – Thomas Midteide, who is currently Telenor’s head of group communications and brand, will lead the communications, brand, and corporate affairs and sustainability functions.

General Counsel (GC) – Siri Birgitte Bang Berge (unchanged). 

Telenor believes the new organisational structure will “substantially reduce administrative costs as part of the operational excellence initiatives and financial ambitions” announced during its capital markets day. 

Telenor’s share price hardly moved as a result of the announcement, with the telco’s stock currently trading at NOK152.3 on the Oslo exchange, giving the telco a market value of NOK208.4bn ($22.5bn). 

- Ray Le Maistre, Editorial Director, TelecomTV