Strong growth of connected services in the Nordics

NORWAY: Northerners are known as early adoptors. The growth of connected products and services will therefore continue to be strong here according to Telenor Connexion, who is now investing further in the region.

Our society is becoming increasingly connected. Anything that can benefit from being connected will eventually be so. Telenor Connexion is focused on enabling companies to connect their products and services.

After having successfully established its offering in the global market, Telenor Connexion has now taken a strategic decision to increase its focus on the Nordic region.

The company has during the spring taken over a number of employees and migrated M2M (machine -to-machine) customers from Telenor Sweden to Telenor Connexion.

Another part of the Nordic venture is the acquisition of technology and IPR from Swedish Iowa AB, a company that develops and provides cloud-based services for connected products. With the acquisition Telenor Connexion is further strengthening its competence within M2M hardware, systems integration and application development.

"We believe in a strong growth in the Nordic countries, a market known to quickly absorb new technologies. Berg Insight estimates that the M2M market here will grow by about 15 percent per year over the next few years. Our mission is to make it easier for more companies to realize connected services. Iowa's many years of experience allows us to shorten lead times and provides comprehensive solutions for companies looking to increase their competitive strength in the connected world," says Per Simonsen, CEO of Telenor Connexion.

To lead the Nordic initiative, Telenor Connexion has recruited Magnus Ahl as new Head of Sales for the Nordic region. Magnus Ahl comes from a position as Regional Sales Director Nordics at Gemalto M2M, where he was responsible for the successful Nordic Business Unit for GSM modules and related services. Ahl has a background within Telenor Group and has previously held positions as Global Account Manager and Key Account Manager Telematics.

"With a stronger focus on the Nordic region Telenor Connexion can take full advantage of the of expertise in the company, the services and the strong local brand," says Magnus Ahl.

"I'm really looking forward to leading a team of highly skilled sales people, who I already know and which I know is the best in the region. The people and the competence of the team will ensure growth, customer satisfaction and establish Telenor Connexion as the leading provider of connected business solutions in the region," continues Ahl.

Magnus Ahl took up his new position on August 1.

Telenor Connexion, owned by Telenor Group, was established in 2008 and currently has about 70 employees. Telenor has been active within in the area of M2M since the 90s and the company can thus be considered a veteran in the field. The customer base includes companies such as Volvo Cars, Nissan, Scania and Hitachi.