Sweden. Telia Sonera AB

The 7-year-maturity loan totalling SEK 550 million is aimed at financing Telia Sonera's acquisition of the Norwegian broadband operator NextGenTel. Before the acquisition, Telia Sonera could only offer mobile services in Norway. NextGenTel started its operations in 2000 and now has 170,000 subscribers, which corresponds to 18% of the Norwegian market. Created as a result of the merger of Swedish Telia AB and Finnish Sonera Corporation in December 2002, Telia Sonera is one of the leading telecommunications company in the Nordic and Baltic regions with a strong position within mobile communications in Eurasia, Russia and Turkey. At year-end 2005, TeliaSonera had approximately 23 million customers in the Nordic and Baltic region and almost 57 million mobile customers in other international markets.