America Movil is Front-runner in Race for TeliaSonera's Yoigo -Report

America Movil (AMX), owned by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, has emerged as the front-runner in the race for Yoigo, the Spanish mobile-phone unit of Swedish telecommunications company TeliaSonera AB (TLSN.SK), which has recently put its controlling stake in Yoigo up for sale, reports Expansion in its Friday Internet edition.

Indeed, Spain's largest mobile operators--Telefonica SA's (TEF) Movistar, Vodafone PLC (VOD) and France Telecom SA's (FTE) Orange--which were also bidding on Yoigo, are faced with legal barriers as the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System license tender awarded to Yoigo in 2000 forbids ownership of such license to any company already owning or effectively controlling a UMTS license, the paper adds.

Each of Spain's three largest telecom firms already have a UMTS license.

Newspaper website: www.expansion.com

Write to Enza Tedesco at enza.tedesco@dowjones.com

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