Narvinger has been under pressure from the Swedish state, TeliaSonera’s largest shareholder with a 37.3% stake, following a series of scandals and poor earnings performance.
The company’s nomination committee has said it would like to see some changes in the board of directors, and Narvinger has confirmed he will not be standing for re-election at the annual general meeting on April 3 next year.
TeliaSonera’s chief executive, Lars Nyberg, will also leave the company at the end of next year, but it is thought he may step down before then.
Kristina Ekengren, head of TeliaSonera’s nomination committee, who is also undersecretary at Sweden’s finance ministry, said the committee has already begun the process of proposing the new chairman.
Following Narvinger’s announcement, she said: “One of the most important tasks of the new chairman will be the recruitment of a new chief executive.”
The company has suffered a bad year, and its decision to allow authorities in Azerbaijan, Belarus and Uzbekistan to monitor its network traffic caused outrage in Sweden.
It has also had to deal with a licensing row in Uzbekistan and has an ongoing legal battle in the country.
