Quarterly earnings on target for TeliaSonera

The company reported a 6.0-percent rise in net profit for the third quarter and a 5.0-percent rise in sales. This was close to expectations.

Chief executive Lars Nyberg said: “I see this as an achievement given that the telecom sector is pressured by lower economic activity, regulatory intervention and reduced roaming (mobile calls) due to decreased business travel.”

TeliaSonera has significant activities in Baltic countries where economic activity has been severely depressed by the economic crisis.

Nyberg said: “The situation in the Baltic countries remains challenging and it is too early to talk about any green shoots in the economy.”

TeliaSonera competes with Telenor for top place among Nordic telecom service providers.

For the third quarter, it reported net profit of 5.04 billion kronor ($727 million), up from 4.77 billion kronor in the same period of last year.

Sales rose to 27.07 billion kronor from 25.82 billion kronor.

Analysts had expected net profit to rise by 7.5 percent and sales by 4.0 percent, as polled by Dow Jones Newswires.