Telenor to Exit Thailand After 25 Years in NOK 39 Billion Sale of True Stake

Telenor Group is ending a quarter century in Thailand, selling its entire stake in True Corporation for about 39 billion Norwegian kroner and handing greater control of one of the country’s largest telecom operators to a private company owned by Thai billionaire Suphachai Chearavanont.

Deal terms and timeline

The Norwegian telecom group announced Jan. 22 that it agreed to divest its 30.3% shareholding in True, the operator formed by the 2023 merger of True Corp and Total Access Communication (dtac). The buyer is Arise Digital Technology Co. Ltd., a Thai firm wholly owned by Arise Ventures Group, founded and controlled by Suphachai, the longtime public face of CP Group and chair of True.

Under the agreement, Telenor will immediately sell a 24.95% stake in True at 11.70 baht per share, with a mutual put and call option allowing the sale of the remaining 5.35% in about two years at the higher of 11.70 baht or the prevailing market price.

“After 25 successful years in Thailand, Telenor has agreed to sell its stake in True Corporation for a total value of approximately NOK 39 billion,” Telenor Group Chief Executive Benedicte Schilbred Fasmer said in a statement. She noted that before merger talks began in 2021, Telenor’s Thai shareholding was valued at about NOK 12 billion. “Today the value of our shareholding stands at some NOK 39 billion.”

The transaction, subject to customary regulatory approvals and closing conditions in Thailand, will give Telenor cash proceeds of about 100.9 billion baht (roughly NOK 32.3 billion) for the initial block. If the option is exercised, it expects an additional 21.9 billion baht (about NOK 6.9 billion). Telenor said it anticipates an accounting gain of around NOK 14.7 billion from the deal.

What it means for Thailand’s telecom market

For Thailand, the sale further localizes ownership of a critical piece of national infrastructure. True serves about 60 million customers across mobile, broadband and television services and is one of two dominant operators in a market effectively reduced to a duopoly following the merger of True and dtac.

Telenor entered Thailand in 2000 through an investment in dtac, building it into one of the country’s top three mobile carriers as it rolled out 2G, 3G and 4G networks. By the late 2010s, dtac was under pressure. Rivals Advanced Info Service (AIS) and True, backed by CP Group, had pulled ahead in market share, while the industry faced heavy capital spending needs for 5G spectrum and network upgrades.

In 2021, Telenor and CP’s True announced plans to combine dtac and True into a single listed entity. The amalgamation, completed March 1, 2023, was billed as Southeast Asia’s largest telecom merger by enterprise value, creating a company with nationwide scale and a broad portfolio of connectivity and digital services.

Regulatory scrutiny and ongoing court challenges

The deal drew intense scrutiny. On Oct. 20, 2022, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) voted 3–2 to “acknowledge” the merger, attaching conditions instead of issuing a clear approval or rejection. The regulator required the combined firm to maintain separate brands for three years, cap certain service prices, provide wholesale network access to mobile virtual network operators and meet ambitious 5G coverage targets, including reaching 75% of the population within three years and 90% within five.

Consumer advocates, academics and opposition politicians criticized the decision, arguing that it effectively sanctioned a duopoly between the merged True and AIS, with only a small state-linked player, National Telecom (NT), remaining. The Thailand Consumers Council and other groups filed cases at the Central Administrative Court, claiming NBTC had failed to prevent market dominance and protect users. The Supreme Administrative Court later allowed some lawsuits to proceed, while others were dismissed.

Regulators have also faced questions over how fully merger conditions have been enforced, including a headline commitment to reduce average service rates by about 12%. True and NBTC officials have said the remedies are being implemented, while consumer advocates say price competition has weakened.

Telenor’s broader retreat from Asia

Telenor has presented the merger, and now the sale, as part of a long-term effort to create a stronger operator and then simplify its own portfolio. “With the completion of the sale of Telenor Pakistan in December, and the agreement to sell our shares in True we have taken big steps in delivering on that strategy,” Fasmer said, referring to the group’s plan to “structurally simplify” its Asian holdings and concentrate on its Nordic core.

In the past five years, Telenor has exited Myanmar, sold Telenor Pakistan to Pakistan Telecommunication Co. Ltd., and now agreed to leave Thailand. It remains an investor in Grameenphone in Bangladesh and CelcomDigi in Malaysia, but has increasingly emphasized growth and consolidation opportunities in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland.

Analysts in the Nordic market have generally welcomed the Thai transaction, saying it strengthens Telenor’s balance sheet and gives it more room to return capital or pursue regional deals. The company has said it will provide details on the use of proceeds with its fourth-quarter 2025 results in early February.

Suphachai and the growing "digital rails"

On the Thai side of the deal, the sale reinforces Suphachai’s position at the center of the country’s digital economy. Arise Ventures describes itself as a private investment group focused on data centers, cloud services, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and financial technology. It holds major stakes in True IDC, a data center and cloud provider, and Ascend Money, a fintech company recently awarded a virtual banking license by the Bank of Thailand.

Arise Digital said its purchase of the 24.95% stake in True is “an important step in the telecommunications sector” and aims to “support the acceleration of True’s strategy, fostering innovation, enhancing the customer experience and driving sustainable value creation.” Suphachai said he and Arise are “committed to sustaining our positive momentum, delivering profitable growth and value creation in True in the years ahead.”

He has recently stepped down as CEO of CP Group to focus on Arise Ventures, while remaining chair of True. CP Group continues to control extensive interests in food, retail and logistics, including the 7‑Eleven convenience store franchise in Thailand.

Taken together, True’s networks, Ascend’s payments and future virtual bank, True IDC’s infrastructure and CP’s retail footprint give entities linked to the Chearavanont family a growing role in what some Thai policymakers call the country’s “digital rails” — the connectivity, data and financial services that underpin much of the economy.

What happens next

The structure of the True sale does not change the competitive landscape overnight. True will continue to operate under existing licenses and NBTC conditions, and AIS remains its primary rival. But the transaction underscores a broader shift: a large foreign, state-linked shareholder is leaving, and ownership of a core utility is consolidating under domestic, privately held tech capital.

For Thai regulators and courts, the coming years will test whether they can enforce merger remedies, oversee emerging virtual banks and address concerns about market power in interconnected telecom, cloud and financial services. For Telenor, the deal is the closing chapter of a 25-year bet on Thailand that began with building out basic mobile coverage and ends with a profitable exit from a market it helped reshape.