Telenor President and Chief Executive Officer Jon Fredrik Baksaas, speaking in Kuala Lumpur has announced the establishment of a Research and Innovation Center for Asia Pacific in Cyberjaya, Malaysia.
The RM45 million center is expected to open in March and is Telenor’s first such center outside Norway.
According to Baksaas, the center will be Telenor’s research and development window to Asia and a window on global knowledge and experience for Asian companies
“The Cyberjaya center will strengthen Telenor’s competitive advantage by providing all of its 12 mobile network operators with insights into the latest Asian consumer trends and service innovations,”
Baksaas said. Baksaas noted that Malaysia was chosen because of its excellent infrastructure, advanced mobile market and thriving local content and applications industry.
Telenor appointed Dr. Kristin Braa as head of the center and she will report to Hans Christian Haugli, CEO of Telenor’s R&D Center in Norway.
The KL center will be staffed with senior researchers from Malaysia, Norway and the Asian region and will include members of Telenor’s Asian mobile operations DiGi, DTAC (Thailand), GrameenPhone (Bangladesh) and Telenor Pakistan.
Currently, Asia accounts for 20pct of Telenor’s total sales. The region’s contribution to the company’s revenue is higher in the mobile segment at 30pct.
Telenor ASA now holds a 61pct stake in Malaysia telecommunication DiGi Bhd.
