France Telecom is in the early stages of examining a takeover of TeliaSonera, the Nordic operator, in a bid to increase its exposure to emerging markets and strengthen its position in mobile internet services.

Gervais Pellisier, France Telecom's finance director, told the Financial Times his company was looking at a possible tie-up with the Swedish-Finnish operator as well as other options, including Telenor of Norway. But he indicated the former French monopoly was some way off opening talks and was in "no hurry".