A member of the board of TeliaSonera said that it is unlikely France Telecom will buy the company.

Elof Isaksson, the operator's labour representative and bigwig of the Swedish trade union Seko, told Swedish paper Dagens Nyheter that France Telecom's offer was laughable and not really interesting at all.

Apart from openly scoffing at La Grande Operateur's bid, he asked why TeliaSonera needed France Telecom. He made the point that TeliaSonera is continuously engaged in expanding and developing its business in Eastern Europe, where the Finnish-Swedish telco can find a lot of opportunities. He added they don't need France Telecom to aid them – instead, France Telecom needed Telia Sonera to grow.

Isaksson furthermore stated that Telenor would have a good chance of being able to get under the sheets with Telia Sonera if they were to lance an offer. The pragmatic viking said a combined company would stand to profit not only from size, but also from the billions of Kroner Norway earns with its oil reserves each year.

That statement ought to cause a lot of headaches around Europe, where former state operators are struggling with an open market, whilst whining about not wanting to invest in telecommunications infrastructure if they have to give competitors access instead of hogging all of the fibre to themselves.

A unified Scandinavian telco with a growth story and access to tons of cheap credits would certainly expedite consolidation of the telecoms market in Europe. Apart from that, it'd be a good step for both Telenor and TeliaSonera, as they would be set to profit from each other's dowry.

Isaksson however added it is pure speculation that Telenor will make an offer for TeliaSonera. He reckons that France Telecom will offer more. Nonetheless, Telenor's former CEO recently called upon his former employer to make an offer and buy Telia Sonera. X

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