Swedish military says TeliaSonera sale feasible

STOCKHOLM, June 13 (Reuters) - The Swedish military said on Friday a sale of telecom operator TeliaSonera (TLSN.ST), for which France Telecom (FTE.PA) has made an indicative $41 billion offer, would not unduly threaten Swedish security interests.

TeliaSonera, created through the merger of Sweden's formerly state-owned telecom monopoly and Finland's Sonera in 2002, still manages some telecom networks considered important to Sweden's national security by the military.

But in a report presented to the Swedish government on Friday, the Swedish military said that a sale did not constitute a security threat.

Sweden plans to sell its more than 37 percent stake in the firm as part of the Nordic country's biggest-ever privatisation of state assets.

"The defence forces judge that a change of the ownership in TeliaSonera AB, provided that sufficient measures are taken to ensure the security interests of the defence forces and other authorities, is feasible from a security perspective," the military said in the report.

However, it said it would be difficult to completely dismantle the dependency of the Swedish defence on the company and that foreign ownership of TeliaSonera would make it tougher to influence the protection of the telecom networks.

It also noted that if the company's headquarters were moved out of Sweden, it could hamper the full application of some security legislation. (Reporting by Stockholm Newsroom; Editing by David Cowell)