Sweden’s TeliaSonera has said it has no immediate plans to divest its majority stake in Spanish 3G operator Yoigo and will focus on returning a profit at the unit next year. However, TeliaSonera CEO Lars Nyberg told Reuters after an investor briefing he had not changed his mind about the long-term future for Yoigo. “I clearly said nine months ago I would look at other strategic options,” he said. “I have not changed my opinion.” The Swedish giant forecast in a statement that Yoigo will be EBITDA positive by the fourth quarter of 2010 and cashflow positive by the end of 2011. Reports last year had suggested that TeliaSonera, which owns 76.6 percent of Yoigo, was looking to offload the under-performing subsidiary. However, according to Wireless Intelligence data, the 3G start-up has showed steady progress since then. It ended 2Q09 on 1.2 million connections, giving it an estimated 2.2 percent market share.

Meanwhile, TeliaSonera said it still expected 2009 sales in local currencies (excluding acquisitions) to be in line with or slightly below 2008 levels. On mergers and acquisitions, Nyberg told Reuters that the company would have a “disciplined approach,” with a strategy to raise ownership in core holdings and evaluate complementary acquisitions while also looking at new markets in Eurasia. He cited TeliaSonera’s interests in Turkey (Turkcell) and Russia (MegaFon) as markets where consolidation was a possibility.