TeliaSonera ownership matters transferred to another Ministry

The responsibility for ownership matters of TeliaSonera Finland will be transferred from the Ministry of Transport and Communications to the Ministry of Trade and Industry. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Policy supported the transfer on 6 September.

The Ministry of Transport and Communications suggested the transfer because the European Commission has commented on the double role of the Ministry on the telecom market. The Commission has required the regulatory tasks in the field and companies' ownership matters to be separated. In addition, the Finnish telecom market is undergoing a structural change that involves many sectoral arrangements. In such a situation it is difficult for the Ministry of Transport and Communications to act as both a general steering party and an owner of TeliaSonera.

The aim is to implement the transfer quickly. The practical arrangements are being prepared by a management group of the Ministries' officials.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Policy emphasised that this change is a separate decision and it is not a comment on where state-owned companies' ownership matters will possibly be centralised in the future.

In the field of telecommunications, the Ministry of Transport and Communications will focus solely on communications policy and steering of the telecom field.


For further information please contact:

Mr Harri Pursiainen, Director-General of the Communications Department,
tel. +358 9 160 28389, +358 500 787 742