Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Historic merger marks new chapter in Malaysia's digitalisation journey: We are in pole position.

30/11/2022

11 minute read

Share

Digi Telenor Asia

For over 20 years, Digi has empowered Malaysian society, connected people to what matters most, and fueled the country's digital transition. With Celcom Digi commencing operations on 1 December, the next phase of Telenor in Asia begins.

This is truly a special day, both for our customers in Malaysia and Telenor, comments Sigve Brekke, President & CEO of Telenor Group, when asked about the first day of operations for the new Malaysian telco Celcom Digi.

The company is in a pole position when it comes to creating more customer value, and I'm confident that Celcom Digi will play a key role in setting Malaysia up for the digital future, says Brekke.

The newly established company, which is a result of the merger of Axiata subsidiary Celcom and Telenor subsidiary Digi, will create an approximately USD10 billion converged operator in Malaysia. Telenor and Axiata will be equal owners and operational influence through Board representation. Telenor representatives on the Celcom Digi board include J rgen C. Arentz Rostrup (Deputy Chair), Rita Skj rvik, and H kon Kj l.

The merger is a clear sign of how Telenor is executing on the strategy we presented at the Capital Markets Day in September, underlines Brekke.

Read also: Axiata and Telenor announce the successful completion of the Celcom and Digi merger

Sigve Brekke, President & CEO of Telenor Group, presented the strategy for a Reshaped Telenor at Telenors Capital Markets Day 2022 at Telenor HQ Fornebu.

On track with Asia ambitionsIt was in April 2021 that Telenor and Axiata first announced that they were in advanced discussions to merge their Malaysian operations. In addition to value creation and playing an important role in Malaysia's digital aspiration, the objective of the merger was to establish a leading market player that could have a greater impact and be a strong local partner for high-value customers, enterprises, and SMEs.

The new entity is taking the best from both companies. It's well positioned to drive innovation and high-skilled employment, increase consumer choice for digital needs, and explore opportunities within 5G services, AI, and IoT, says J rgen C. Arentz Rostrup, EVP and Head of Telenor Asia.

Telenor and Axiata will be equal partners in the merged company, with 33.1 percent ownership each. Rostrup calls the merger a momentous milestone for Telenor's work to build scale and profitable business as well as manage risk more efficiently in the Asia region.

Our ambition is to become a leading operator in several markets because we believe it's a good way to increase value for businesses, consumers, and shareholders. This mega merger in Malaysia puts us in the right direction and provides a solid platform for sustainable long-term growth. Structural partnerships or an initial public offering are future options for Telenor Asia, says Rostrup.

In Thailand, Telenor and CP Group aim to complete an amalgamation of the subsidiaries dtac and True within the first quarter of 2023.

Sigve Brekke and J rgen C. Arentz Rostrup visited Malaysia in June 2022, when the merger process received regulatory clearance from MCMC, the Malaysian regulator.

A new dawn for Telenor in MalaysiaFor Telenor, the merger signals a new dawn for the company's history in Malaysia - a history that spans back to 1999, when the company first bought a stake in Digi.

Digi was the first major investment Telenor made in Asia. For 22 years, we learnt about Malaysia and its dynamic competitive market. We are proud of how Digi has developed into an innovative and customer focused telecom operator and contributed to empowering the Malaysian society and helped people connect to what matters most to them, Brekke reminisces.

Telenor's journey in Asia began two years earlier with Bangladesh in 1997. 25 years later, Telenor has over 165 million customers in the region and has, for more than two decades, supported national digital ambitions across Southeast Asia.

Improving people's lives and empowering societies has, is, and always will be Telenor's foundation for growth in Asia. Seeing how mobile connectivity and digitalisation impact people confirms our companies' important contribution to societal development, says Rostrup, who refers to a recent Telenor Asia study of 8,000 people in South and Southeast Asia. In the survey, a whopping 93 per cent said that mobile connectivity improved their quality of life.

However, as mobile connectivity evolves from a nice-to-have to a must-have, both Brekke and Rostrup believe that to reap the full benefits of how new technologies, such as cloud computing, analytics, and storage, can further empower societies, telcos need to think differently.

For Telenor's operations in Asia, our ability to provide value to customers and society require new thinking. With Celcom Digi, we can stay competitive, drive growth, build scale, and enhance execution capabilities and innovation momentum, says Rostrup, who oversees the company's operations in Bangladesh, Malaysia, Pakistan, and Thailand from Singapore.

The formation of Telenor Asia was announced in October 2022, and is a continuation of Telenor's unified Asia business which was established two years earlier. Telenor Asia is a more autonomous regional entity with headquarters in Singapore that has complete oversight and responsibility for the company's operations in the region.

The merged telco Celcom Digi will commence operations on 1 December 2022.

Thanks to all Digizens The Telenor you see today is not the Telenor you will see in the future, proclaimed Brekke at Telenor's Capital Markets Day this year. Taking the number one position in Malaysia and establishing a more autonomous Telenor Asia entity are parts of the reshaped Telenor that will ensur
LINK: https://www.telenor.com/media/newsroom/announcement/historic-merger-ma...
See more stories from telenor

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

17/06/2026

EVS Achieves EcoVadis Gold Medal, Ranking in Top 5% of Companies Globally

EVS has announced it has received the EcoVadis Gold Medal for sustainability performance, ranking among the top 5% of companies globally in the Technology/Mid-S...

17/06/2026

Chyron Releases Weather 2.4 with Updated DataFlow Module

Chyron has released Weather 2.4, an update to its weather suite for broadcasters and meteorologists. The release focuses on enhancements to the DataFlow module,...

17/06/2026

VSiN Launches Best Bets TV, a 24/7 FAST Channel

VSiN, The Sports Betting Network, has announced the launch of Best Bets TV, a free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channel. The 24/7 channel is currently avail...

17/06/2026

Snapchat and Team Whistle Launch World Cup Creator Program Across Miami, New York, and Los Angeles

DAZN's Team Whistle and Snap Inc. have announced a creator program centered ...

17/06/2026

LiveU Supporting Broadcast and Public Safety Operations for Summer of Soccer

LiveU is providing video transmission technology for broadcasters, production companies, and public safety agencies across North America's busy Summer of So...

17/06/2026

NATAS Announces Two New Board Members and COO Promotion

The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) has announced that Laurens Grant and Jacob Ullman have joined its Board of Directors. Chief of Staf...

17/06/2026

Akta Brings AI-First Cloud Video Workflows to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure

Akta, the AI-First SaaS video platform for modern broadcast and streaming operations, today announced that its video platform is now generally available on Orac...

17/06/2026

SVG Students to Watch: Nicholas Stafford, Texas Southern University

This recent graduate from Houston found inspiration in technical directing and now eyes a future career in sports production...

17/06/2026

InfoComm 2026: Audio-Technica Brings New Wireless, Networked Audio, and Certified Conferencing Solutions

Audio-Technica (booth C7959) arrives at InfoComm 2026 in Las Vegas with a slate ...

17/06/2026

SNS Positions AI Suite as On-Premise Answer to Video Indexing and Search Demands

SNS has published a guide addressing growing demand for AI-powered video indexing, transcription, facial recognition, and searchable metadata across media libra...

17/06/2026

Providius Announces Providius Direct for Network Troubleshooting on NETGEAR Pro AV Switches

Providius has announced Providius Direct, a workflow for investigating network i...

17/06/2026

NEP Launches NEP Platform Software Orchestration System, Selects Bridge Technologies VB440

NEP Group has announced the commercial availability of NEP Platform, a software ...

17/06/2026

BBright White Paper: SRT vs. RIST for Professional Video Contribution and Distribution

A new white paper examining Secure Reliable Transport (SRT) and Reliable Interne...

17/06/2026

Bango Research: 51% of Gen Z Say Highlights Are Replacing Live Games

New research from subscription bundling platform Bango finds that younger sports fans are increasingly consuming sport through highlights, clips, and social med...

17/06/2026

SMPTE Opens Entire Standards Library to Public at No Cost

SMPTE has announced that its complete Standards catalog is now freely available to the global media technology community, including all published SMPTE Standard...

17/06/2026

MediaKind Completes Merger with Harmonic's Video Business, Creating Independent Video Infrastructure Heavyweight

Harmonic has completed the sale of its Video Business to MediaKind for $145 mill...

17/06/2026

Omaha Productions to Produce 2026 World Series of Poker Main Event Coverage for ESPN

Omaha Productions will produce the 2026 World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vega...

17/06/2026

SoundBridge 3.1.0 now available

New features, changes & bug fixes SoundBridge have just released another update for their remote collaboration-focused DAW - reviewed here in SOS March 2026...

17/06/2026

Fryette launch the Valvulator Mini

Valve-based front end for digital & modelling rigs The latest addition to Fryette's product range delivers a packed-down, pedalboard-friendly version of...

17/06/2026

The Biggest UK Pro Audio Show In 20 Years!

GearExpo UK - 27 June 2026 Sound On Sound are proud to announce GearExpo UK, a major new recording and music technology exhibition in London! This is the bi...

17/06/2026

Genelec introduce the 9402A System Management Device

SAM monitoring line-up gains Dante and AES67 support The latest expansion of Genelec's UNIO monitoring ecosystem introduces a new device that provides D...

17/06/2026

The R&SPR300 portable receiver from Rohde & Schwarz sets new standards in spectrum monitoring

The R&S PR300 portable receiver from Rohde & Schwarz sets new standards in spect...

17/06/2026

Elt Group and Rohde & Schwarz sign a cooperation agreement to explore commercial opportunities in electronic warfare and defense

Elt Group and Rohde & Schwarz sign a cooperation agreement to explore commercial...

17/06/2026

NABLF Graduates Its 2026 Broadcasting Leadership Training Class

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

17/06/2026

ABC and ESPN Score Most-Watched NBA Finals Since 1998

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

17/06/2026

Smartly, Roku Bring Social Performance Tools to CTV

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

17/06/2026

Pliant Technologies Debuts Crewcom Flex at InfoComm 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

17/06/2026

The Immersive Supervisor Emerges as Hollywood's Next Production Role

The Immersive Supervisor Emerges as Hollywood's Next Production Role Brie Clayton June 17, 2026 0 Comments Above image: On set live immersive revi...

17/06/2026

Vertical Musical Playback Shot with Blackmagic PYXIS 6K

Vertical Musical Playback Shot with Blackmagic PYXIS 6K Brie Clayton June 17, 2026 0 Comments Large format sensor and DaVinci Resolve workflow used fo...

17/06/2026

DAZ 3D Launches New Game-Ready Character Assets Built for Modern Engines and Production Workflows

DAZ 3D Launches New Game-Ready Character Assets Built for Modern Engines and Pro...

17/06/2026

Spectrum Awards $1.1 Million in Digital Education Grants

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

17/06/2026

XR Sports Alliance Adds New Members

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

17/06/2026

AIMS Launches Free Online IPMX Training Series

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

17/06/2026

Kiloview Partners with SFM to Expand AV-over-IP Solutions...

Montr al, Quebec, June 11, 2026 Kiloview, a leading provider of AV-over-IP and NDI -based video transmission solutions, today announced a distribution partner...

17/06/2026

Kiloview Launches U4 IP Video Dock Bringing Professional...

Changsha, China, June 15, 2026 Kiloview officially announced the launch of U4 IP Video Dock, a compact IP video decoder and output dock designed to bring prof...

17/06/2026

Half Year, Half Off! Ivory II Summer Sale is Here

Save 50% on All Ivory II Pianos and Collections Were halfway through the year, and we're cutting prices in half for the Ivory II Summer Sale! For a limite...

17/06/2026

Two in three fans will connect to venue WiFi this World Cup, Sky Business research reveals

Wednesday 17 June 2026 Two in three fans will connect to venue WiFi this World ...

17/06/2026

Visibility builds credibility - the tools you use every day...

Visibility builds credibility - the tools you use every day, now visible on your LinkedIn profile Published on Jun 17, 2026 Categories: Company News, Product ...

17/06/2026

Harmonic Completes Divestiture of Video Business to MediaKind

Transaction Positions Harmonic as a Pure-Play Broadband Company SAN JOSE, Calif. - June 17, 2026 - Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ: HLIT), the worldwide leader in virtual...

17/06/2026

FOX Advertising To Launch Industry's First End-to-End Agentic Advertising Platform, Powered by FOX AdStudio

FOX Advertising To Launch Industry's First End-to-End Agentic Advertising Pl...

17/06/2026

Building resilience in an era of compounding threats

How SGN is future-proofing critical national infrastructure with Arqiva Managed Connectivity. When disruption becomes the norm As Storm Eunice tore across the ...

17/06/2026

Good Vibrations hit Dublin and Limerick as RT Concert Orchestra plays the music of the Beach Boys

The RT Concert Orchestra will bring the timeless music of The Beach Boys to aud...

17/06/2026

June 16, 2026

Calibr-Skaggs awarded $5.1M by NIH to develop long-acting hepatitis B virus therapy A new program aims to replace a daily HBV drug with once-monthly or even qua...

16/06/2026

Thomson launches new learning App

Thomson's highly regarded expert-led online learning courses are now easier to access on the go via our new App. Available now on Google Play Store, the J...

16/06/2026

Neumann MT 48 Receives Major Firmware 2.0 Update

Neumann.Berlin has released firmware version 2.0 for the MT 48 audio interface, adding plugin compatibility, expanded Dante networking options, broadcast encode...

16/06/2026

TVNewsCheck Opens Nominations for 2027 Women in Technology Awards

TVNewsCheck has announced that nominations are now open for its 2027 Women in Technology Awards, to be presented at NAB Show 2027 on Tuesday, April 6 in the Med...