BC-EU-FIN-COM--Finland-TeliaSonera-DNA

The Nordic region's largest telecom operator, TeliaSonera, agreed Monday to sell its mobile phone operations in Finland to Finnet, owner of the country's third-largest mobile operator, DNA Finland. The sale was required by EU regulators for approval of the merger last year between Finland's Sonera and Sweden's Telia. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Finnet, a joint company owned by local land-line operators in Finland, separately agreed to sell off its holdings in Suomen 3G to Tele2. Suomen 3G has one of four third generation cellular licenses in Finland which will pass to Tele2, but Finnet and DNA Finland will in turn acquire TeliaSonera's licence. After the purchase, DNA Finland will have some 700,000 cellular customers in the country, 15 percent of the mobile subscriptions market, the company said.