"If we find a suitable target with sensible conditions, I am ready to buy. I am interested in countries with several million people, which have steady economic growth and where only 10 to 15 percent of the population uses mobile phones," Nyberg said.

The last few countries with such a low penetration in the region are Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan.

He also said TeliaSonera could settle with a minority stake in an operator in the region.

Nyberg said TeliaSonera was not planning to expand into services, and was looking to outsource more of its operations.

"We are not a content producer," he said.

"We used to do all ourselves. For example in technology we are still doing too many things inside the firm. We could well buy at least part of this from outside," he was quoted as saying.

TietoEnator is the largest IT service provider for TeliaSonera.