Telia’s continued uncertainty in Eurasia led to a mixed set of Q2 figures, as it announced a new independent unit to “capture new revenue streams and further develop existing and future partnerships” through its core business.

Details of the new unit remain scarce, other than it appears to have been branded Telia X, and will be part of the company’s drive to strengthen its position in the Nordics and Baltics.

This vision was part of a rebrand by the company, outlined after it decided to exit from its operations in the Eurasia region last September, following controversy in Uzbekistan in particular.

It has also since taken steps to shed assets in other non-core businesses, such as Yoigo in Spain and Sergel, a Nordic credit management service, while completing the sale of NCell in Nepal to Axiata in the last quarter.

Updating on the situation in Eurasia, which are reported in the financials as “held for sale and discontinued operations”, CEO Johan Dennelind (pictured) said it continues “to work hard to solve our issues surrounding Uzbekistan, and to responsibly reduce our presence in region Eurasia”.

Net income plunges
Getting down to the financials, Telia saw net income attributable to shareholders fall 55.8 per cent, reaching SEK1.4 billion, from SEK3.3 billion, “impacted by effects in discontinued operations”. Overall revenue, meanwhile, was SEK21.1 billion, slightly decreasing from SEK21.5 billion in Q2 2015.

Based on continuing operations alone, net income grew, to SEK2.8 billion, from SEK2.1 billion the year prior. The same metric for discontinued operations dropped to SEK1 billion, compared with SEK1.6 billion in Q2 2015.

Taking into account individual markets, the company pinpointed its home country Sweden, where service revenue growth stayed positive, due to its convergence strategy in mobile, broadband and TV.

In Norway, the company said it now delivers 4G to 98 per cent of the country, “almost two and a half years earlier than the regulatory agreement”.

Dennelind reiterated the company’s strategy around the Nordic and Baltic region, which are “very much the cradle of digitisation and has the potential to lead the way in the so called 4th industrial revolution”, he said.

The company said it is maintaining its full year 2016 outlook to achieve SEK2 billion reduction in annual costs over the next year.