Telenor's KNL sees growth in military radio demand

OSLO (Reuters) -Telenor's Finnish subsidiary KNL said on Tuesday it is seeing rising demand in the coming years for its encrypted portable radio units from NATO countries looking to boost battlefield communications.

Earlier this month, KNL announced a joint procurement of more than 15 million euros ($17.6 million) by the Finnish and Swedish armed forces for its Cognitive Networked High Frequency (CNHF) manpack radios.

"This is just the opening contract," KNL Chief Executive Toni Linden told Reuters, adding that the company has ongoing pilot tests with militaries of Norway and several other NATO countries.

"We're staring to see some real interest and substantial orders and we're looking to grow that now," Linden said.

Powered by KNL's own software, the radios provide long-distance voice and data communication without relying on satellites such as the global positioning system (GPS) or private sector networks like Starlink, the company said.

European members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) have agreed to raise their collective defence spending over the next decade, citing a long-term threat posed by Russia and the need to strengthen civil and military resilience.

KNL declined to comment on any potential use of its units in Ukraine, but said that the ongoing conflict with Russia held important lessons.

"The world was not prepared for such a full-scale war, where you have basically the whole country's border as a battlefield and you need to connect the different hotspots," Linden said.

The Swedish and Finnish contracts mark the first deliveries under the Nordic region's NORDEFCO framework agreement signed in April, with equipment scheduled to arrive by year end, said telecom group Telenor, KNL's Norwegian owner.

($1 = 0.8536 euros)

(Reporting by Terje Solsvik; Editing by Sumana Nandy)