The Telenor case

About the Telenor scandal

Last updated 8 October 2026 · Facts about the case

The Norwegian state is the largest owner of Telenor. In 2013 the company won a mobile licence in Myanmar with close political support from Norway. After the military coup in 2021, Telenor Myanmar handed customer data to the junta. Telenor then sold the business to a company with close ties to the military. The sale included data on around 18 million customers and a fully installed surveillance system.

The junta used telecom data to track down democracy activists. Many were arrested, tortured and killed. On 15 September 2026, Telenor ASA was charged with complicity in crimes against humanity. A charge is not a conviction.

Many consider the Telenor scandal the greatest business-political and human rights scandal in Norwegian history. Adviser John Eirik Grova called the case in Dagens Næringsliv one of the most serious accusations of human rights violations against a Norwegian company since the Second World War (DN, 7 October 2026).

Forrådt av Norge Order here

What the case is about

1. 01 The entry

   2011–2014

   Norway opened the door, Telenor got the licence

   From 2011, the Norwegian authorities built a close relationship with Myanmar, which was still run by the military. Norway was the first country to lift sanctions in 2012, and then Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre travelled to the country with Telenor's head of Asia. In 2013 Norway cancelled around NOK 3 billion of Myanmar's debt.

   On 27 June 2013 Telenor won one of two national mobile licences, out of 89 applicants. Norwegian regulators helped Myanmar develop its telecom regulation. Telenor Myanmar launched in September 2014 and eventually had more than 20 million customers.

   

2. 02 After the coup

   2021–2022

   Customer data to the military junta

   The military seized power on 1 February 2021. Two weeks later the junta changed the law to give itself unlimited access to user data. Telenor Myanmar, a wholly owned subsidiary of Norway's Telenor ASA, complied with the junta's demands for customer data.

   According to Myanmar Now, Telenor had complied with more than 200 requests by February 2022. Each request could contain many phone numbers. The data included last known locations and call histories.

   Telenor Myanmar had also installed and tested a real-time interception system (lawful intercept gateway). Telenor said the system was not activated while it owned the business.

3. 03 The sale

   8. juli 2021 – 25. mars 2022

   Sold with customer data and surveillance equipment

   On 8 July 2021 Telenor announced that Telenor Myanmar would be sold to Lebanon's M1 Group for USD 105 million. The junta required the buyer to have a local partner. The sale was approved on 18 March and completed on 25 March 2022.

   Shortly afterwards the Myanmar company Shwe Byain Phyu took over 80 per cent of the ownership. The United States imposed sanctions on Shwe Byain Phyu in 2024. The network, the surveillance equipment and the data of around 18 million customers went with the sale.

4. 04 Arbitration against the junta

   Myanmar Now, 5 April 2024

   Telenor is seeking money from the junta

   According to Myanmar Now, Telenor has brought an arbitration claim against Myanmar at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), under the investment treaty between Myanmar and Singapore. It is the junta that represents Myanmar in the case. The arbitration is confidential, and it is not known how much Telenor is claiming. Telenor declined to comment.

   The Minister of Trade and Industry confirmed to the Storting on 20 November 2025 that Telenor has initiated legal proceedings against the Myanmar authorities, and that they are subject to confidentiality.

   Myanmar's exile government and human rights groups have condemned the arbitration. Justice For Myanmar: «The junta is not a legitimate government and has no standing to represent Myanmar in arbitration.»

   Prydz believes it is a paradox that Telenor is seeking money from the same junta to which the company handed over customer data.

   • Trade Minister's reply, 20 November 2025PDF

   Read the story (Myanmar Now via bilaterals.org) ↗
5. 05 Legal proceedings

   2025–2026

   The revelations, the charges and the class action

   In August 2025, NRK revealed the scale of the data disclosures. In December 2025, Norway's National Contact Point for the OECD Guidelines concluded that Telenor had not carried out adequate due diligence.

   On 15 September 2026, Telenor ASA was charged by Kripos with complicity in crimes against humanity, and by PST with breaching sanctions legislation. The next day, Asker og Bærum District Court approved a class action by at least 1,253 former customers. A charge is not a conviction.

   See the status of all proceedings · The government’s responsibility

The human rights consequences

1. 06 The junta's persecution

   AAPP, april 2025

   Thousands killed, tens of thousands imprisoned

   After the coup the military junta cracked down hard on the democracy movement. According to the human rights organisation Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), the junta had killed more than 6,900 people and was holding around 28,000 political prisoners as of April 2025.

   The UN and human rights organisations have documented arrests, torture and killings of protesters and opponents. Telecom data was one of the junta's tools for tracking down opponents.

2. 07 At least 1,253 affected

   NRK, august 2025

   The customers who were handed over

   NRK revealed in August 2025 that around 1,300 customers had their data disclosed or their phone blocked at the junta's demand. Telenor's own analyses showed that almost 500 customers were at risk of arrest if the data was shared.

   The class action against Telenor ASA covers at least 1,253 former customers.

   Read NRK's story (Norwegian) ↗
3. 08 Arrested and executed

   The class action, April 2026

   Phyo Zeya Thaw og Aung Thu

   Phyo Zeya Thaw was a member of parliament for Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD party and a hip-hop artist. According to the class action, his data was disclosed on 31 October 2021. He was arrested on 18 November 2021 and executed by the junta in July 2022. His widow is a party to the lawsuit.

   Aung Thu was, according to the lawsuit, handed over on 22 September 2021, arrested on 17 October the same year and sentenced to five years in prison. He too is a party to the lawsuit.

4. 09 Executed 23 July 2022

   Betrayed by Norway

   Ko Jimmy

   Kyaw Min Yu, known as Ko Jimmy, was one of the leaders of the 1988 student uprising and spent more than 20 years in prison in total for the struggle for democracy. He visited Oslo and met the Norwegian authorities.

   After the coup he had to go into hiding. On 23 October 2021 he was tracked down and arrested at a hiding place in Yangon, and injured during the arrest. He was sentenced to death by a military court and hanged in Insein prison on 23 July 2022, together with Phyo Zeya Thaw among others. His family received neither his body nor his ashes.

   Audun Aagre, former head of the Norwegian Burma Committee, writes that Ko Jimmy was arrested shortly after Telenor handed over metadata about him (Panorama, August 2025, in Norwegian). Telenor told Panorama that the company cannot speculate on how the regime used the data, and that responsibility lies with the junta (Panorama).

   His wife, Nilar Thein, told the book Betrayed by Norway: «Ko Jimmy used only a Telenor SIM card for many years until he was arrested.»

   

   

Telenor's explanation

1. 10 Disputes liability

   Telenor

   What Telenor says

   Telenor has explained that the company had no choice, and that concern for its employees in Myanmar weighed most heavily.

   Communications director Gry Rohde Nordhus to DN on 7 February 2022 (our translation): «Breaking or not complying with the orders we receive in Myanmar would have had very serious and completely unacceptable consequences for our employees. We cannot stand behind that as an employer.»

   Chair Gunn Wærsted in Aftenposten on 29 March 2022: «No employee of Telenor should have to sacrifice their life.»

   Telenor disputes liability in the class action.

   Prydz believes Telenor and the state had both the knowledge and the room to act to protect the customers, but chose to let the data and the equipment go with the sale.