Baku, Finance Time. On May 23, 2014, Johan Dennelind, President and CEO of the TeliaSonera Group, one of the leading telecom companies in Europe and the majority shareholder of Azercell Telecom, visited Azercell and Azerbaijan. As part of his first-time visit agenda, Johan Dennelind met with the Minister of Communications and High Technologies, H.E. Ali Abbasov, and several other officials of the Ministry. During the meeting, the parties elaborated on subjects related to further development of the mobile technologies sector of Azerbaijan.

Mr. Dennelind noted that Azercell had consistently been delivering services at the highest international standards and is today one of the most valuable assets of the Group in the Eurasian region. Mr. Dennelind also shared his vision of the future directions of cooperation in the field of mobile communication services of Azerbaijan, as well as his ambition for Azercell to keep its position as a gateway for the transfer of technologies, innovations and know-how to the country.

The Minister of Communications and High Technologies noted the significance of innovations introduced in Azerbaijan via Azercell, including the recent expansion of Azercell’s LTE network, emphasizing the importance of further penetration of 4G technologies throughout the country.

The President of the TeliaSonera Group expressed his commitment to continuous growth and improvement in Azerbaijan, ensuring high satisfaction of Azercell clients, as well as to the support of technological projects of state importance. He also mentioned that TeliaSonera is one of the most important tax payers in Europe, while Azercell leads the local market from many perspectives, including being the largest tax-payer in the non-oil sector of Azerbaijan.

Mr. Dennelind has briefed the officials of the Minister on the roll-out of the Compliance and Sustainability Agenda of TeliaSonera Group in all of its markets, as well as on a number of respective group policies, including the TeliaSonera Group Policy on Freedom of Expression and the Anti-Corruption Policy.

TeliaSonera has operations in 17 countries on a geography stretching from Northern Europe to Russia, Azerbaijan and all the way to Nepal in Asia. TeliaSonera is considered a pioneer of the global telecommunication industry, having brought to the world the mobile communication technology and a significant number of innovations and technological solutions without which life is unimaginable today. TeliaSonera was also the first company in the world to launch a 3G network on Mount Everest and commercially launch 4G services (in Stockholm and Oslo in 2009). One of the most valuable assets of TeliaSonera is its global team of 26,000 employees serving over 180 million customers. TeliaSonera is ranked among top 5 telecommunication groups in Europe by market capitalization.