Ms. Gunn Wærsted, Chair of Telenor Group, recently concluded a one-day visit to Telenor Pakistan during which she held high-level meetings with top management representatives of Telenor Pakistan and discussed company’s strategic goals. During her visit, Ms.Wærsted also called on Ms. Anusha Rahman, Minister of State for Information Technology & Telecom, at her office and discussed the development in Pakistan’s ICT sector and Telenor’s ambitions going forward.
“Telenor has a long-term commitment to Pakistan, which is evident from the level of investment that currently stands at US$ 3.5 billion since its inception in 2005,” said Gunn Wærsted. “Driven by our vision of empowering societies, our success to date has been built on a simple realization: mobile communication, financial services, and the internet are not luxury goods for the few; they are for everyone and Telenor Pakistan has played a vital role in the realization of this vision.” Ms. Wærsted also emphasized on the need for predictable regulatory frameworks and reiterated the importance of governments, businesses, and organizations working together to stimulate digital growth and build shared value in Pakistan.
During her visit, Ms. Wærsted lauded Telenor Pakistan’s recent win of the prestigious Group-wide ‘Transformation Award’ and appreciated Telenor Pakistan for having emerged as the country’s leading telecom operator as well as the country’s foremost digital lifestyle partner, and shared the Group’s expectations for the future.
“We welcome Ms. Wærsted to Pakistan and extend our heartfelt gratitude to her as well as the Group for recognizing Telenor Pakistan’s journey of becoming a digital services provider,” said Irfan Wahab Khan, CEO, Telenor Pakistan. “We believe that her visit is yet another testament to Telenor’s sustainable investments in Pakistan and its contributions to the socioeconomic development of our society. Operating in Pakistani since 2005, we have made significant contributions to Pakistan’s economy and society, touching lives in a number of ways. Apart from our expansive network footprint covering 84% of the country’s population, we have made a fiscal contribution of over US$2.3 billion through direct and indirect taxes,generated over 180,000 indirect and induced jobs in 2015 alone, contributed to the GDP, launched initiatives to empower youth and women, and made result-oriented efforts toward digital and financial inclusion in the country, as evident from Telenor’s Global Impact Report by KPMG.”Mr. Khan added that Telenor Pakistan will continue to serve the Pakistani society with the same level of commitment.
After being elected as Chair of the Board of Directors, Gunn Wærsted assumed her position on 14 January 2016. Telenor Group today serves more than 214 million customers in 13 markets across Europe and Asia and is one of the world’s major mobile operators.
