TeliaSonera appoints former Vodacom exec as CEO

Nordic telco TeliaSonera has appointed former Vodacom International CEO, Johan Dennelind, as its new president and CEO. 

Dennelind will take up the position on September 1, but will be available to the company from the beginning of next month.

He takes the role from acting CEO Per-Arne Blomquist, who will revert back to his position of executive vice president and CFO on September 1.

Blomquist took the top spot on an interim basis in February, after former president and CEO Lars Nyberg resigned in February after losing support from the board.

This followed a review into the firm’s investment in Uzbekistan, which led Nyberg to admit that it did not conduct a “sufficiently in depth analysis into the identity of our local partner in Uzbekistan” before it invested in the country, or look into how the partner “came to own the assets that were later obtained by TeliaSonera.” However, allegations that TeliaSonera committed bribery or participated in money laundering were not supported by the review.

TeliaSonera chairman, Marie Ehrling, commented on the new appointment: “Johan Dennelind brings with him almost 20 years of experience from the telecommunication industry and has during his time at Telenor and most recently at Vodacom proven that he can successfully lead organizations in significant change processes within an international environment.”