Telenor and Google Cloud Form Strategic Partnership

Collaboration with Google Cloud to support Telenor’s digital transformation journey in serving its customers now and in the future

(Fornebu, 15 November 2021) Telenor has signed a strategic partnership with Google Cloud to further explore areas of cooperation and define key strategic initiatives, advancing Telenor’s digital capabilities.    

Telenor continues to advance the modernisation of the telecommunications industry by digitalising and expanding its offerings - going beyond connectivity. As the network is increasingly software-based, Telenor is exploring how to leverage Google Cloud’s expertise in data management, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI/ML), as well as the company’s infrastructure, to bring together the complimentary technologies to Telenor’s customers and society overall.

The partnership will provide Telenor with greater flexibility to meet its technology objectives. As part of the agreement, both companies will collaborate on key areas, including:

• Strengthening Telenor’s technology capabilities to make an impact: Both companies aspire to transform and modernise Telenor’s IT and networks by looking into how Google Cloud’s services, global data centre network, and security capabilities can be used. Both companies will also look to drive better customer experiences by leveraging Google Cloud’s data, analytics and AI/ML intelligence technologies. Telenor and Google Cloud's collaboration aims to support customers and industries to face their digital transformation challenges.
• Delivering growth through joint go-to-market activities: Telenor and Google Cloud will collaborate on expanding both horizontal and vertical services through joint go-to-market activities, creating new scalable revenue streams.
• Joint innovations: Telenor and Google Cloud will innovate and enhance the capabilities of current and future products, develop new modern industry solutions and services, and drive cost efficiencies. This may include developments to the next generation of virtual network function and edge computing, focusing on IoT and 5G.
• Bringing digital to all: Google Cloud and Telenor are committed to bringing digital to all customers. The two organisations will join forces to support these businesses, helping to get them online and guiding them through their digital transformations by providing access to support teams and next-generation solutions.  The aim is to look at how solutions are developed, how businesses are responsibly run, diverse ways of working and ultimately empower societies.

 "Telenor wants to work with leaders in the tech industry and stay committed to being at the forefront of modernisation and digitalisation. As connectivity is the foundation for building trust, we believe that together we can go beyond connectivity to enhance our offering to our customers with new and innovative solutions, whilst improving the overall experience of our current portfolio,” says Sigve Brekke, president and CEO of Telenor Group.

 "We are delighted to collaborate with Telenor to bring together the strengths of both our companies and accelerate innovation in the telecommunications industry. We look forward to further accelerating Telenor’s ability to digitally transform its customers’ businesses with infrastructure, industry solutions and technology expertise—all on the cleanest cloud in the industry,” said Thomas Kurian, CEO, Google Cloud.

About Telenor
Telenor Group is a leading telecommunications company across the Nordics and Asia with 172 million customers and annual sales of around USD 14 billion (2020). We are committed to responsible business conduct and driven by the ambition of empowering societies. Connectivity has been Telenor's domain for more than 160 years, and our purpose is to connect our customers to what matters most.  Telenor is listed at Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker TEL. For more information, see www.telenor.com

About Google Cloud
Google Cloud accelerates organizations’ ability to digitally transform their business with the best infrastructure, platform, industry solutions and expertise. We deliver enterprise-grade solutions that leverage Google’s cutting-edge technology – all on the cleanest cloud in the industry. Customers in more than 200 countries and territories turn to Google Cloud as their trusted partner to enable growth and solve their most critical business problems.

Press contact:
Tormod Sandstø, Director Media Relations, Telenor Group
t: +47 90 94 32 15 | Tormod.Sandsto@telenor.com

Sondre Ronander, Communications Manager, Google Norway
t: +47 41 61 00 96 | sondreronander@google.com