* Plans to keep developing Spanish mobile ops for now
* Sees Yoigo EBITDA positive in Q4 2010
* Expects Yoigo to turn cashflow positive end 2011
* Reiterates outlook for 2009
(Adds CEO quotes, background)
By Simon Johnson and Helena Soderpalm
STOCKHOLM, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Swedish telecoms company TeliaSonera said on Monday it would keep its majority-owned Spanish mobile business Yoigo for now and focus on making it profitable by late next year.
The Nordic region's biggest telecoms operator has been exploring the option of selling the loss-making business but said it had decided to hang on to it in light of the tough economic climate.
Lars Nyberg, the firm's chief executive officer, 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."
TeliaSonera reiterated its overall outlook for 2009 and said in a statement it sees its Spanish venture turning a profit before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in the fourth quarter of 2010 and becoming cashflow positive at the end of 2011.
Yoigo's chief executive told Reuters in the second quarter that he saw the company, Spain's fourth-largest mobile operator, turning a positive cash flow by 2012 as spending by customers stabilised after falling over the last half of 2008.
Yoigo and virtual mobile operators, which do not have their own networks and rent capacity from rivals, have been wooing recession-hit customers with flat rate cheap per-minute deals.
EYE ON EURASIA
TeliaSonera said it still expected 2009 sales in local currencies excluding acquisitions in line with or slightly below 2008 levels, though business in Sweden could still be affected by the downturn, Nyberg said.
"We get affected I think fairly late in the cycle," he said. "People talk about an increase in unemployment in Sweden and ... if and when that happens we will be affected."
TeliaSonera, which like many of its peers has fared relatively well in the economic slump, plans to focus on margins and cash flow in its Nordic and Baltic operations, and on growth and maintaining high margins in its Eurasian business.
On mergers and acquisitions, Nyberg said 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.
Nyberg favours consolidating Turkcell, Turkey's top mobile operator, as well as Russia's third-largest wireless operator, MegaFon. But if that is not possible then the priority would be gaining control and liquidity, he said.
"When it comes to MegaFon we want to have a dividend policy, and I would be very glad if the board backed that," he said.
Nyberg said although TeliaSonera wants to acquire a majority stake in the Russian firm, authorities might not allow it to.
"I have concluded that, at least for the time being, TeliaSonera will not be allowed to get 51 percent of MegaFon because it (telecoms) is a strategic industry," he said.
The company also repeated its view that its 2009 addressable cost base would be below the 33.8 billion Swedish crowns ($4.7 billion) seen in 2008, in local currencies and excluding acquisitions.
Its 2009 EBITDA margin was expected to exceed the level of 2008, excluding non-recurring items, while its CAPEX-to-sales ratio was expected to be in the range of 13-14 percent.
(Editing by Dan Lalor, John Stonestreet) ($1 = 7.139 Swedish crowns)