Telia maintained its full-year outlook for low single-digit revenue and earnings growth after an opening quarter during which president and CEO Allison Kirkby (pictured) continued progress on cost-cutting and implementation of fresh transformation measures.

In a statement, Kirkby noted the Sweden-headquartered operator remained on track to cut costs by SEK2 billion ($203.7 million) by the end of 2023, partly due to a 3 per cent year-on-year reduction in expenses.

Furthermore, the modernisation of Telia’s IT infrastructure, including the removal of legacy systems, delivered savings of around SEK80 million.

Net income grew 13.9 per cent to SEK1.1 billion on revenue of SEK21.8 billion, up 2.1 per cent.

Service revenue from the core telco business, which excludes TV and media, rose 2.9 per cent.

Capex this year is expected to be in the range of SEK14 billion to SEK15 billion.

Telia also noted a transaction to sell a 49 per cent share of its Swedish towers business to a consortium comprising a unit of Brookfield Asset Management and Alecta is expected to close in the current quarter, earlier than previously estimated.