France Telecom has declined comment other than to say it was unable to reach an agreement; the company is believed to have little room to negotiate a price without any rival bidders and with no urgent need to acquire the smaller company.

France Telecom runs the major European telecoms provider Orange and would have been one of the few non-native carriers to gain significant ground in Scandinavian countries by buying TeliaSonera, which commands a large portion of the market for cellular phone service and other businesses in its home territory.