Telenor ASA

Group service revenues were NOK 14.7 billion, down 0.7% year over year. Adjusted EBITDA was around NOK 8 billion, down 4.8%, while adjusted EPS was NOK 1.94, down 12% year over year. Free cash flow before M&A was NOK 1.8 billion, up 13% year over year; CapEx to sales was 14.5%; leverage ended at 1.4x; and ROCE excluding associated companies was 12%. Management said underlying comparable performance was better, with 0.3% service revenue growth and a 2.3% EBITDA decline, and it revised 2026 guidance to Nordic organic service revenue and EBITDA growth of flat to low single digit, with group adjusted EBITDA expected to be flat to slightly negative. Nordics CapEx to sales is still expected at around 14% for the year.

Benedicte Schilbred Fasmer framed Q2 as a mixed quarter operationally but an important one strategically. She emphasized that Telenor is becoming more Nordic-centric and more profitable through simplification, broadband expansion, IoT monetization, and defense contracts, while acknowledging that 2026 is a transition year with temporary cost pressure. Her tone was constructive but candid: she said the company is in a “soft patch,” yet the strategic direction and long-term ambitions remain unchanged.

Torbjørn Wist emphasized that the quarter was shaped by tough comps, timing effects, transformation spend, and the Norway TV VAT provision. He cited NOK 14.7 billion of service revenue, around NOK 8 billion of adjusted EBITDA, NOK 1.8 billion of free cash flow before M&A, NOK 2.3 billion of CapEx paid, NOK 51.5 billion of net interest-bearing debt, and 1.4x leverage. He also said the three-year NOK 15 billion buyback program is underway, with 2.9 million shares repurchased for NOK 0.4 billion in June, and that financial flexibility remains strong despite recent M&A.

Analysts focused heavily on the guidance cut, especially whether Norway’s ‘More for More’ strategy has structural limits and whether the IT-stack transformation costs are unusually large. Management said Norway’s weakness was driven by aggressive Q2 promotions, slower uptake of new Services First offers, and staggered price increases, but they do not see a structural break in the market position. On transformation, management said the near-term cost is tied to running legacy and new systems in parallel, especially the Norway IT system and Denmark BSS stack, but that the move to cloud-native platforms should bring meaningful savings later. Questions also centered on buybacks, dividends, M&A capacity, and Bangladesh; management reaffirmed a strong commitment to dividends and said Bangladesh remains uncertain, while spectrum auction details are still not official.