Malaysia-Norway Pan-Asian telecoms giant in the making

Win-win partnership: Jamaludin (right) shaking hands with Brekke after a briefing to announce the proposed merger. The non-cash deal will see the creation of a new company with over 300 million customers by merging mobile assets in nine countries.

KUALA LUMPUR: Two rivals – Axiata Group Bhd and Norway’s Telenor ASA – are proposing to combine their assets in Asia and South Asia to create a telecoms giant to weather tough market conditions with scale and synergy.

This non-cash deal will see them creating a new company with over 300 million customers by merging mobile assets in nine countries, including Malaysia (both Celcom Axiata Bhd and Digi.Com Bhd), tower assets and innovation centres.