Telenor exits Thailand with $3.9bn True sale as Asia retreat accelerates

Details: Manny Pham; Category: Operators; 22 January 2026; 10253 views

Nordic operator group Telenor has agreed to sell its stake in Thailand’s True Corporation for NOK39 billion (US$3.9 billion), drawing a line under 25 years in the Southeast Asian market as it continues to pull back from Asia to refocus on its Nordic core.

Under the deal, Telenor will sell its 24.95% stake in True to Arise Digital Technology Company for NOK32.3 billion. Arise is owned by Thai businessman Khun Suphachai Chearavanont (pictured, right).

The parties have also agreed an option for Arise to acquire Telenor’s remaining 5.35% stake within the next two years for a further NOK6.9 billion.

The Thailand exit follows Telenor’s recent agreement to sell its Pakistani operation to Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited for more than US$500 million, underscoring the group’s accelerating retreat from Asian markets.

Its remaining Asian units are Grameenphone in Bangladesh and CelcomDigi, in Malysia. Previously, Telenor’s footprint stretched to India and Myanmar.

The company’s Q4 results will be held on February 6^th, Telenor said it will reveal more detail on the use of fresh capital gained from its recent sales.

Telenor Group CEO Benedicte Schilbred Fasmer (pictured, left), meanwhile, reflected on the operator’s quarter-century in Thailand, noting that Telenor’s Thai assets were valued at around NOK12 billion before merger talks with True began in 2021. The transaction, she said, leaves True as a firmly established market leader.

“At our Capital Markets Day in November, we said that we looked for structural value creation opportunities in Asia. With the completion of the sale of Telenor Pakistan in December, and the agreement to sell our shares in True we have taken big steps in delivering on that strategy”, said Fasmer.

Telenor first entered Thailand in 2000 through the acquisition of shares in Total Access Communication (TAC), later developed into Dtac, which grew into one of the country’s largest mobile operators. In 2023, Dtac merged with True in a landmark deal aimed at strengthening its position against market leader AIS.