Telia has announced a new restructuring plan that could eliminate around 900 positions across five Nordic and Baltic countries, just nine months after a previous round of job reductions. The Swedish telecommunications group presented the proposals on Monday, 12 October, targeting annual gross savings of SEK 1 billion (€89 million).
According to the company’s official announcement, the restructuring will affect Sweden, Finland, Norway, Lithuania and Estonia. The largest reductions are expected in Finland and Sweden, where Telia has already carried out significant workforce cuts this year.
The plan is part of a broader effort to simplify the company’s organisation and transfer more responsibilities from central departments to its national subsidiaries. Around 220 positions, primarily within the group’s shared technology division, are expected to be relocated to country-level operations.
Finland and Sweden face the largest reductions
The group’s preliminary figures indicate reductions of approximately 280 positions in Finland and 260 in Sweden. Norway accounts for another 150 positions, while Lithuania and Estonia are expected to lose 110 and 100 respectively.
In Finland, the restructuring involves a more extensive reorganisation of the company’s operations.
According to a statement from Telia Finland, consultations with employee representatives will cover approximately 2,050 positions and could result in the elimination of up to 355 existing roles.
However, the company also expects to create around 75 new positions and transfer approximately 50 roles from group-level operations to its Finnish subsidiary.
The 280-position reduction reported in Telia’s group-wide figures therefore differs from the 355 existing roles potentially eliminated under the Finnish consultation process. The proposed new positions partly offset those reductions, while the transfers represent a redistribution of responsibilities within the company.
Holger Haljand, CEO of Telia Finland, said the reorganisation was intended to strengthen the company’s ability to respond to changing customer expectations and improve its services.
The Finnish consultations are expected to last six weeks, with final decisions to be announced afterwards.
Norway’s 150 positions do not all represent new layoffs
In Norway, Telia has identified approximately 150 positions within the restructuring programme. However, the figure does not mean that 150 additional employees will necessarily lose their jobs.
As Norwegian media have clarified, the total includes previous workforce reductions, natural departures that will not be replaced, external consultants whose contracts are ending and permanent employees affected by the latest proposals.
The number of additional compulsory redundancies among permanent staff has not yet been specified.
Bjørn Ivar Moen, CEO of Telia Norway, acknowledged the difficulties facing affected employees. The company intends to offer severance packages and career guidance while continuing discussions with employee representatives.
The announcement has nevertheless prompted criticism from trade unions. Merethe Shukla, a representative of Norway’s Electrical and IT Workers’ Union (EL og IT Forbundet), expressed frustration at the repeated restructuring rounds.
“We have already been cut to the bone.”
Speaking to Norwegian technology publication Digi, Shukla said employees had hoped to avoid further reductions after previous rounds had already put pressure on staffing.
Telia restructuring follows another round of cuts in January
The October announcement comes after a separate restructuring programme announced at the beginning of 2026.
As NordiskPost reported on 8 January, Telia had proposed eliminating up to 600 positions across the group, particularly in Sweden and Finland, while simultaneously creating around 150 new roles in strategic business areas.
In Finland, those earlier negotiations concluded in February, resulting in the elimination of 251 positions and the creation of 83 new ones, a net reduction of 168 roles.
The latest announcement therefore marks another stage in Telia’s workforce reorganisation, although the figures from the different programmes cannot simply be added together, particularly where previously announced reductions are included in the new totals.
The company says the current proposals are intended to strengthen national operations, reduce overlapping structures and improve efficiency across its Nordic and Baltic businesses.
Telia expects restructuring charges of approximately SEK 600 million (€54 million) in the fourth quarter of 2026, with most of the associated cash outflows occurring in 2027. The company anticipates the full positive effect on free cash flow from 2028.
The proposed changes are expected to be completed by 31 December 2026, subject to consultations with trade unions and employee representatives.
Further financial details are expected when Telia publishes its third-quarter results on 22 October, while the final employment impact will depend on the outcome of the ongoing national consultation processes.
