Telenor is cutting down its executive management team and reorganising its business units into four regional clusters, in changes aimed at making it a “more integrated global company”.

Among those stepping down from the executive management team are Jesper Hansen CEO of Telenor Denmark, Michael Foley CEO of Telenor Bulgaria and Lars Erik Tellmann CEO of dtac, Thailand.

Telenor’s business units will be organised into four clusters: Scandinavia; Central and Eastern Europe; Emerging Asia; and Mature Asia. Each cluster will be led by a head who will report to Telenor Group president and CEO Sigve Brekke.

Business unit CEOs will continue in their role and the new cluster heads will also remain in their position as local CEOs.

“In 2015, we included the business unit CEOs into the group’s executive management to ensure a closer connection with customers and the development of a unified global strategy. With the changes announced today, we are taking the next step and continue to evolve into a more global company, leveraging economies of scale and driving innovation across Telenor,” said Brekke.

There are also two new units: services and operations, which will work to standardise and consolidate areas including networks and infrastructure; and products and customer interaction, tasked with focussing on products, customer journeys and analytics.

The changes will come into effect on 1 March, 2017.

In December Telenor’s board reiterated its faith in Brekke to continue leading the company, following media attention on Telenor’s reported problems with its operations in Asia during his stint as head of the region.