Nordic telecoms firm Telia in the red over Uzbek settlement provision

Stockholm (dpa) - Provisions for a billion-dollar settlement over a controversial deal in Uzbekistan weighed heavily on Nordic telecommunications group Telia Friday as it reported a third-quarter net loss of 8.8 billion Swedish kronor (988 million dollars).The 1.45-billion-dollar provisions were related to a settlement offer made last month by US and Dutch authorities that could close a long-running probe into dealings in Uzbekistan dating to 2007.Telia chief executive Johan Dennelind said the provisions "severely impacted" the quarter‘s results, adding the company could not say when the probe would be concluded.The quarterly loss compared with a profit of 4.6 billion kronor a year ago.Sales in the quarter dipped almost 1 per cent to 21.5 billion kronor.Uzbekistan is one of seven countries in the Eurasia region that Telia last year said it was leaving and now reports as discontinued operations.The former management entered Uzbekistan in 2007 as part of its strategy to expand in Eurasia‘s fast-growing economies, amid slowing demand in its more mature markets.The deal later came into question and an external enquiry in 2013 concluded that the then management had not properly investigated an Uzbek partner, which reportedly had close ties to a daughter of the country‘s authoritarian president, the late Islam Karimov.Telia is now focusing on the Nordic and Baltic regions where it reported stable results, partly due to strong demand for high-speed internet access.