Denmark’s Norlys reorganises with energy-to-telecoms consumer-facing company

Source: Norlys

Danish energy-to-telecoms group Norlys is to undergo a major reorganisation that will see its consumer-facing activities grouped in a single company, Norlys A/S.

Norlys, which owns fibre networks covering much of the country as well as ex-cable operator Stofa and recently acquired mobile telco Telia Danmark, is bundling consumer-facing energy and telecoms activities together to meet a broader range of household-level needs, according to the company.

Norlys said that the shift will require the thorough digitisation of its business, with new self-service solutions and and more data-driven insight into consumer behaviour and needs.

The move to reorganise along these lines has in fact been given impetus and rationale by the presence of minority investors in different parts of the business, with PGGM and EDF becoming minority owners of the fibre network. That will sit with a new company, Norlys Fibernet. The other operating company will be energy provider Elnetselkabet N1. A holding organisation, Norlys Group, led by CEO Niels Duedahl, will sit above the operating companies.

Norlys A/S will be led by Claus Flyger Pejstrup, currently group director with responsibility for consumer facing business within Norlys, as CEO, and Jasper Vingter Barslund as CFO.

“The telecommunications market in particular is a blood-red market, where price is often the only way to differentiate yourself. But we do not believe that the market must be won by constantly being 10 kroner cheaper than the competitors. We would much rather be the best at delivering a coherent solution that makes customers’ everyday lives simpler and better,” said Pejstrup.

“Few consumers will be without power in the socket, charging for the electric car, lightning-fast internet, streaming, TV and a good mobile connection, and after the purchase of Telia Danmark, we can deliver it all. We are in a unique position because we can cover the customers’ needs, so to speak, from the time they wake up until they go to bed again. We believe that the market must be won by who is the best at solving the household’s overall needs, and we have set out to prove that.

“We are not building a coherent customer business from one day to the next, but the direction is set. Now we are also setting ourselves up in terms of management to take a completely new position on the market, which no one has taken before, and which I doubt anyone will be able to imitate us.”