Sonera's plans for
world domination took a bit of
a hit when the
telecommunications industry
imploded in 2001, saddling them with some €4.5
billion of debt, mainly for the German
UMTS (
3G) licenses they had purchased for an exorbitant price.
The company skirted dangerously
close to bankruptcy in autumn 2001, but was rescued
by a combination of a stock offer and an injection
of nearly €1 billion from Finnish
taxpayers.
Following large layoffs, closing most overseas
operations and selling off non-essential assets,
they had reduced their debt load to a mere
€2.5 billion.
On March 26, 2002, Sonera announced its merger
with the Swedish telecoms giant Telia.
Shades of Nordea, the combined company will
have some 35,000 employees and a market share of over
50% in Finland, Sweden and the Baltic countries,
as well as significant stakes in Denmark, Turkey,
Russia and much of the CIS. Telia being twice
as big as Sonera, Sonera will retain only 36% of
the shares in the new company, and the headquarters
of the new company will move to Stockholm,
Sweden.