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STOCKHOLM/MADRID, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Nordic telecomsoperator TeliaSonera is in talks with Spanish telecomsfirm Jazztel and others over a possible sale of itsSpanish mobile firm Yoigo, it said on Thursday.
Yoigo, in which TeliaSonera has a 76.6 percent stake, isSpain's smallest network operator at a time when Europeantelecom firms are seeking to consolidate to combat toughcompetition.
TeliaSonera said in July it was reviewing Yoigo's futureafter slashing its sales forecast for the year, citing thefierce competition and calling its 7 percent market share"sub-scale".
Seven analysts asked by Reuters estimated all of Yoigo mightfetch between 525 million euros and 1.2 billion euros, with anaverage value of 824 million euros ($1.06 billion).
In addition to Jazztel other possible buyers includeOrange's Spanish arm. Its finance chief said last weekhis company would be interested in both Jazztel and Yoigo if thecompanies were up for sale.
Orange declined to comment on Thursday, but a sourcefamiliar with the matter said the company so far had notsubmitted a bid for Yoigo.
Vodafone, which this year bought Spanish cableoperator Ono, also declined to comment.
In a note to Spain's stock market regulator, Jazztel, which uses the Orange network to provide its current mobile service,said the discussions were in an initial phase and would notnecessarily be followed by an offer.
The other shareholders in Yoigo are Spanish constructionfirms ACS and FCC, who own 17 percent and 3.4percent. Schneider Electric SCHN.PA owns a 3 percent stakethrough information technology firm Telvent. (1 US dollar = 0.7741 euros) (Reporting by Sven Nordenstam, Olof Swahnberg, Julien Toyer,Gwenaelle Barzic and Kate Holton; Editing by Paul Day and GregMahlich)
Vodafone (VOD)