TeliaSonera In Talks To Join Freemove Alliance -Sources

MILAN -(Dow Jones)- Swedish telecommunications operator TeliaSonera AB (TLSN.SK) is in talks to join the Freemove alliance, people close to the situation told Mf-Dow Jones.

Freemove is an alliance of France Telecom SA's (FTE) mobile arm Orange, Italy's Telecom Italia Mobile SpA (TIM.MI), Spain's Telefonica Moviles SA (TEM), and Deutsche Telekom AG's (DT) mobile arm T-Mobile International AG (TMO.YY). The alliance offers cross-border mobile telecoms services to its customers.

TeliaSonera spokesman Michael Kongstad confirmed the company is looking into joining an alliance, but declined to specify which one or when such a move could happen.

"As these alliances have been formed it's natural for us to look into what role we can have there," Kongstad said.

The European alternative to Freemove is the Starmap Mobile Alliance formed by operators including U.K.'s MM02 (OMM), Italy's Wind-Infostrada SpA (WIF.YY), Telenor Mobil - the mobile arm of Norway's Telenor (TLSN.SK) - and Spain's Amena, a unit of the Auna Group (AUNA.YY).

These alliances allow mobile operators to offer their users convenient services and tariffs while they are traveling abroad, such as listening to their voice mail abroad as if they were at home.

-By Giancarlo Boi of MF-Dow Jones, Serena Saitto, Dow Jones Newswires; +390258219907, serena.saitto@dowjones.com. (Magnus Hansson in Stockholm contributed to this report.)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires"

Posted to the site on 7th February 2005