“Telenor’s geographical footprint covers both advanced and growing economies, offering growth opportunities and profitability as demonstrated in the second quarter. At the same time, regulatory issues remain a challenge, particularly visible in Bangladesh and India during this period,’’ said Jon Fredrik Baksaas, President and CEO of Telenor Group.

Outlook maintained

“The Group’s organic revenue growth improved from the first quarter combined with stronger margins. With these trends, we maintain the outlook for this year,’’ said Baksaas.

More than five million new customers

“During the second quarter, Telenor gained more than five million new customers driven by strong growth in Asia. In Thailand, dtac’s network investments and high customer uptake is resulting in solid revenue growth as our customers embrace new services enabled through 3G. In Norway and Sweden, we saw subscription growth picking up in the consumer segment as a result of new data centric offerings,’’ said Baksaas.

Myanmar and Bulgaria

“Telenor was recently declared a successful applicant for a telecommunications licence in Myanmar, and we are currently awaiting the telecom law and final licence conditions from the local authorities. Our acquisition of Bulgaria’s second largest telecom operator Globul has been approved by the EU Commission, and I am looking forward to welcoming our new colleagues in a region well known to Telenor,’’ added Baksaas.

New buyback programme

“Telenor’s operational performance and strong financial position enables healthy shareholder remuneration. I am pleased to announce that we are initiating another share buyback programme for approximately 1 percent of the outstanding shares, to be completed before the AGM in 2014,” said Baksaas.

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Please refer to Telenor Group’s Quarterly report for more information on all Telenor companies. www.telenor.com