Bjørn Amundsen has got you covered

Little did Bjørn Amundsen know upon agreeing to participate in a Telenor customer test group back in the early 1990s that the fate of his career would be forever altered.

Over the past 17+ years, Amundsen has made a name for himself as Telenor’s own coverage guru. A walking atlas of every river, mountain and valley in his Norwegian homeland, Amundsen has spent the better part of his career making sure that you have coverage no matter where you wander.

From customer to coverage expert

His story begins back in 1993, when he was working in the completely unrelated position of sales director in a software company. He was selected as one of 100 Telenor customers to test out the company’s new GSM network. Amundsen was entertained by the notion of testing out a network and immersed himself in the task. He went above and beyond what was required of the test group, and as a result, he was employed by Telenor as a coverage consultant in 1994. By 1995, Amundsen was a permanent employee with the responsibility for coverage in Norway.

“I think that they realized that it was better to have someone like me as an employee rather than a customer. I still think of myself as a customer within the company though, as it’s my job to see coverage from a customer’s point of view in order to determine where we need to do better,” said Amundsen.

Coverage as a key differentiator

In the early days of Amundsen’s career at Telenor, the company was still in its adolescence as a competitive player. NetCom had just gotten its GSM license in 1993 and for the first time Telenor had to fight against another operator for market share. Amundsen made it his personal mission to make Telenor the best in Norway for coverage, as he felt it was a vital component to setting the company apart from the new found competition.

While Telenor’s transformation since the early 1990s has been significant, Amundsen says that his focus has remained consistent. “I’m still out there, with the customers, testing our network, testing our competitors’ networks, in order to make the correct decisions on how to improve it.”

On the road 200 days a year

There is no such thing as a typical work day for Amundsen. He doesn’t spend his time sitting at Telenor’s Fornebu headquarters, but rather he estimates that 200 days each year are spent on the road. His black Toyota Land Cruiser has become his home on wheels as he explores some of the network’s most challenging territories throughout Norway. Four times a year, Amundsen makes the trek around the country, spending at least one month visiting base stations, troubled coverage spots and even taking the time for a few cups of coffee with local media reporters along the way.

Telling the coverage story to the media

Amundsen is no stranger to media attention, and over the years he has become the first face that comes to mind when the issue of coverage arises. Oslo hosted the World Cup in skiing earlier this year, and Amundsen was once again in the news giving people a realistic perspective on the coverage they can expect during such a popular event.

“I would say that 50 percent of my job is public relations. It is important for me to be out there telling the story, even if that story is not always good,” explained Amundsen. “I will acknowledge that the coverage is not good in a particular area and tell them that we are going to do something about it. While we fix the problem, I’m telling the story again, and showing them we are here fixing it. Once the problem is fixed, I’m back with the happy ending – you had a problem, we said we would fix it and now we’ve fixed it.”

Good coverage gets personal for Amundsen

One may ask why, after so many years, is the Director of Coverage still the person who is out driving around the country? Isn’t there someone else who can do it? But Amundsen says that this is the way he prefers it.

“I want to be focused at all times on how our network is working. I may be a pain for other people by creating more work for them, but that’s how I am. I feel personally responsible for making sure that people have a good experience. That is why I spend most of my days in the car, on the snowmobile or in the boat testing, testing and testing again,” said Amundsen.

The consuming nature of the job

Amundsen is very frank about the fact that his career is completely consuming. It’s become a 24/7 way of life for him, in which even dinner out with his wife may involve a quick coverage check on the ride to the restaurant and answering a few SMS complaints about coverage during dessert. But he maintains that this how it has to be, as it’s the only way to answer the questions that never stop coming his way.

“I stay motivated to do my job because I love the customer. I know that without the customer, we don’t have a company. That’s why I want to do my part to build the best network and to maintain our position as number one when it comes to coverage.”

Telenor will always be number one in coverage

When asked if he ever envisions a time when he will pass along the coverage torch, Amundsen is quick to reply that he will never stop. While he doesn’t have an exact explanation for his commitment to his task, he knows one thing.

“I will always be out ‘smelling’ the coverage. Just sitting inside an office is not Bjørn. I will do this until I die,” he said. “I want people to know that Telenor Norway is best in coverage. We are number one, we’ve always been number one and we will always be number one.”