Telia is to boost its presence in the Norwegian enterprise mobile segment through the acquisition of Phonero.

Phonero, which serves small and medium sized businesses as well as public companies, has a customer base of 25,000 invoiced enterprises with around 250,000 mobile subscriptions. Telia said the move will increase its mobile enterprise market share to 27 per cent from 13 per cent.

The deal gives Phonero an enterprise value of NOK2.3 billion ($279.6 million). Telia said it expects to see cost benefits by transferring traffic to its own network.

“The transaction will strengthen Telia’s position as a true alternative to the incumbent in the Norwegian B2B market. We have complementary knowledge, expertise and service solutions that will help to create added value for business customers,” said Abraham Foss, CEO of Telenor’s Norwegian operation.

The acquisition is subject to approval from the Norwegian authorities. It is expected to complete in the first quarter of 2017.