TeliaSonera invests in fashionable acceory maker Zound Industries

TeliaSonera invests in fashionable accessory maker Zound Industries

15 May 2014

TeliaSonera forms a partnership with Zound Industries, the successful Swedish start-up that markets the electronic accessory brands Urbanears, Marshall, Coloud and Molami. Along with TeliaSonera's high-quality coverage, Zound Industries' award-winning audio accessory lines, which include Urbanears headphones and Marshall loud speakers, will give customers a great audio experience wherever they are, whenever they want.

Johan Dennelind, President and CEO of TeliaSonera, Konrad Bergstr m, Co-founder Zound Industries, Pernilla Ekman, CEO Zound Industries, Lars Roth, Head of Innovestements at TeliaSonera.

As part of the deal, TeliaSonera will acquire a stake in Zound Industries. The partnership will enable TeliaSonera to bundle fashionable in-ear and on-ear phones, headphones, loud speakers and high-fashion cases for mobile devices, together with appealing mobile telecommunications subscriptions.

Our ambition is to offer our customers the best possible experience when using our services, and music is an important part of that. A great customer experience requires not only good coverage and high quality of the devices, but also functional accessories such as Zound Industries' fashionable headphones and superior quality of loud speakers, says Lars Roth, Head of Innovestments at TeliaSonera.

Investing in Zound Industries is a step in our strategy to work with partnerships in order to cater to a customer demand for a lifestyle that is ever more connected and stylish.

The partnership also gives access to Zound Industries brands Urbanears, Marshall, Coloud and Molami and also access to their network of designers, famous brands and artists. The accessories from Zound Industries are today sold in 20,000 stores in 95 markets.

The deal is the perfect opportunity for us to reach out to the fashion-conscious mobile device consumer, says Pernilla Ekman, CEO of Zound Industries. We can already see a number of exciting opportunities for the future, combining the strengths from both our companies. Zound Industries has seen strong growth in the past few years and with the TeliaSonera partnership we expect the growth rate to increase even further.

The campaign where customers get a Marshall loud speaker when buying a mobile subscription that Telia is currently running in Sweden is an example of the type of attractive bundles the Zound Industries partnership will enable TeliaSonera to offer in all its markets in the future.

Attractive bundled offers drive traffic to our stores, says Lars Roth. We have a great experience of working with the Spotify partnership. With this deal we have taken the next step by investing in an innovative company enabling TeliaSonera to be first with the latest fashionable and functional accessories. Together we will also develop products exclusively for TeliaSonera's brands.

For more information, please contact Linda Tims ter +46 72 225 84 29 or the TeliaSonera press office +46 771 77 58 30, +cerff@gryvnfbaren.pbz, visit our Newsroom or follow us on Twitter @TLSN_Media.

TeliaSonera provides network access and telecommunication services in the Nordic and Baltic countries, the emerging markets of Eurasia, including Russia and Turkey, and in Spain. TeliaSonera helps people and companies communicate in an easy, efficient and environmentally friendly way. Our ambition is to be number one or two in all our markets, providing the best customer experience, high quality networks and cost efficient operations. TeliaSonera is also a leading wholesale provider who owns and operate one of the world's most extensive fiber backbones. In 2013, net sales amounted to SEK 101.7 billion, EBITDA to SEK 35.6 billion and earnings per share to SEK 3.46. The TeliaSonera share is listed on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm and NASDAQ OMX Helsinki. Read more at www.teliasonera.com.

LINK:	http://www.teliasonera.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2014/5/teliasone...
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