Telia Group announced it will layoff 3 per cent of its total workforce, with the majority of the job losses affecting its home market of Sweden.

Plans to cut 850 jobs from its headcount in an attempt to reduce ongoing costs were revealed as part of the company’s earnings update for Q2 and H1 2017.

Pointing towards pressure on legacy revenue and falling one-off fibre sales, Telia president and CEO Johan Dennelind (pictured), said its operational expenses in Sweden were still “too high” despite attempts in the first half of the year to reduce them.

Group net income fell from SEK3.9 billion ($468 million) in the three months to end-June 2016 to a loss of SEK308 million in the recent quarter, following a number of divestments.

Its subscription numbers across fixed and wireless decreased to 23.4 million in Q2 2017, compared to 26.7 million in the 2016 quarter.

During H1 2017, the company continued to reduce its operation in Eurasia to focus on its core market of the Nordics and Baltics – a process it expects to complete by the end of the year.

In its earnings report, the company said: “The remaining Eurasian parts are available for immediate sale and divestments of these units are deemed highly probable within 2017.”

Over the last six months, Telia reduced its stake in Turkey’s Turkcell and sold-off its holding in Tajikistan operator Tcell. In June, rumours emerged the company was considering reducing its 25 per cent stake in Russian operator MegaFon as the next stage of its strategy.

Discussing its future outlook, Dennelind said: “We keep on shaping the new Telia in the Nordics and Baltics, while we work relentlessly to ensure a balanced exit from Eurasia in order to fully focus on the next phase of Telia Company.”