Sigve Brekke Appointed New Head Of Telenor Asia, Tore Johnsen New CEO Of DTAC

Mr. Sigve
Brekke takes up the position as head of Telenor Region Asia and joins Telenor’s
Group Executive Management on September 1st 2008. Brekke succeeds Mr. Arve
Johansen, who returns to the Telenor Headquarters in Norway as a special advisor to the
CEO. Mr. Tore Johnsen will take over as new CEO of DTAC.
    “We
are very pleased that Sigve Brekke will join the Group Executive Management,
and look forward to benefiting from his many years of experience in our
international operations. His strategic competence and operational knowledge
are qualities that will benefit both Telenor and our companies,” said
Telenor President and CEO, Mr. Jon Fredrik Baksaas.
    Prior to
joining DTAC in 2002, Brekke worked at Telenor’s Singapore office for three years. In
his career, Sigve Brekke has served as the Deputy Minister (State Secretary) of
Defence in Norway in 1993,
and has also held positions at the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment and
had an associate position at John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
in the USA.
Under his supervision, DTAC has become a major mobile operator in Thailand with
16.7 million customers (Q1 ’08).
    “I am
looking forward to take on a regional role in Telenor Asia. I am grateful for
getting this opportunity, and it will be exciting to broaden the horizon and to
further develop Telenor’s operations both on a regional and a group
level,” said Sigve Brekke, CEO of DTAC and future Head of Telenor Asia.
    Deputy CEO
Arve Johansen has been heading Telenor Region Asia since the establishment in
2006. He joined Telenor in 1989 and has held a number of positions in the
Group. He has served as CEO of Telenor Mobile from 1999 to 2005 and was CEO of
Telenor International AS from its inception in 1993 to 1999. At the expiration
of his appointed assignment period on September 1st, Arve Johansen will serve
as a special advisor to the President and CEO until he retires in June 2009.
    “We
are very fortunate to have had Arve Johansen as a key person in the development
of Telenor. He has been the main architect of our international expansion
strategy from 1993 and onwards, and his insights and contributions both in Asia
and in Europe have been most valuable. I thank
him for his great contributions,” said Telenor President and CEO, Mr. Jon
Fredrik Baksaas.
    “Seeing
the development of Telenor’s international expansion has truly been rewarding. Although
I have been actively involved with more or less all of Telenor’s operations,
the Asian region has always been something special to me. Today, our four
companies in Asia alone constitute 40 percent of Telenor’s total customer base,
which in itself is a testimony of the tremendous transformation of Telenor from
a purely Norwegian company to a global mobile player,” said Arve Johansen,
Deputy CEO of Telenor and Head of Region Asia.   
    Replacing
Mr. Brekke as CEO of DTAC is Mr. Tore Johnsen, CEO of Telenor Pakistan since
the inception in 2004. Before moving to Pakistan,
Johnsen served four years as Strategy Director and later CEO of DiGi
Telecommunications in Malaysia.
He joined the Telenor Group in 1974, and he has held a number of managerial
positions and international assignments. Johnsen holds a Master of Science in
addition to studies in International Business Management. A new CEO of Telenor Pakistan will
be announced in due time before September 1st.