Tele2

Infobox Company
company_name = Tele2 AB
company_
company_type = Public (OMX|SSE1027|TEL2 B)
foundation = [http://www.tele2.com/pages/Text.aspx?id=186 1993]
location = Stockholm, Sweden
key_people = Vigo Carlund (Chairman of the board), Lars-Johan Jarnheimer (President and CEO)
industry = Telecommunications
products = Mobile and fixed-line telephony, cable TV and internet services
revenue = SEK 43,420 million (2007)cite web |url=http://www.tele2.com/upload/files/annualreports/Tele2_ENG_2007_index.pdf |title=Annual Report 2007 |accessdate=2008-04-15 |publisher=Tele2]
net_income = loss (SEK 302 million) (2007)
num_employees = 5,860 (2007)
company_slogan = "Why pay more?"
homepage = [http://www.tele2.com/ www.tele2.com]
intl = yes

Tele2 AB is one of Europe's biggest telecommunications operators, with about 24 million customers in 12 countries. It serves as a fixed-line telephone operator, cable television provider, mobile phone operator, internet service provider.

Overview

Tele2 started as a telecommunications company in Sweden in the late 1970s by the company Industriförvaltnings AB Kinnevik. In 1981, a mobile phone provider called "Comvik" started as an alternative mobile phone operator to Telia. The cable television provider "Kabelvision AB" started in 1986. Comvik changed it name to become Comviq when the company got a GSM license in 1988 and started operating in 1992.

In 1991, Industriförvaltnings AB Kinnevik started "Tele2" as Sweden's first ISP and in 1997 with telephone liberalisation in Sweden, Tele2 started to offer international calls.

The three companies of Comviq, Kabelvision, and Tele2 came together as the "Tele2" brand on fixed-line services and "Comviq" on mobile services in Sweden in 1997. International growth came in the form of acquisitions in Estonia, Latvia, Russia & France. Today it serves as a major telephone company in the Nordic and Baltic nations, together as an alternative provider in many others.

Tele2 operates in Austria, Croatia, Estonia, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Sweden and Switzerland.

Divestments

Tele2's most recent development has been to realign its geographic footprint towards Eastern Europe and the Nordic region focusing on own infrastructure based operations which provide higher growth options and possibly better margins for the future.

In 2007 the company sold its holdings in Belgium to Dutch operator KPN. In March 2008 Tele2 divested its Austrian MVNO operations to Telekom Austria, although retaining its fixed line and internet services. In June 2008 Tele2 sold its Liechtenstein and Luxembourg holdings to Belgian operator Belgacom. The same month Tele2 sold its Polish operations to Netia.

Criticism

During its operation in the United Kingdom, Tele2 was criticised for using the practice of telephone slamming (changing consumer's residential phone line over to a new provider without their consent). cite news
url=http://money.guardian.co.uk/phones/story/0,13283,1466811,00.html
title=When slamming the phone prompts a row
publisher=The Guardian
date=2005-04-23
accessdate=2008-04-30 ]

See also

* List of Swedish television channels

References

External links

* [http://www.tele2.com/ Official website]