The Norwegian government has responded quickly to the Swedish authorities' determination to reduce their stake in Telia, Sweden's incumbent telecoms operator, with a similar proposal for Telenor.

The Norwegian ministry of industry and trade will propose to parliament that the state be allowed cut its stake in Telenor from 78% to 34%. At present, it cannot reduce its holding to under 51%. This could free up as much as Nkr32bn (€4bn) for the telecoms operator to use for mergers and acquisitions.