A Swedish parliamentary committee has speeded up the approval of a proposed change in regulation that will allow incumbent telecoms operator Telia to use equity issues to finance acquisitions.

The change in law would allow the Swedish government, which holds 70.6% of Telia, to reduce its holding to below 51%. That would free up a large part of Telia's Skr170bn (€19bn) market capitalization for purchases it is considering in northern Europe. The committee has approved the proposal for a fast track parliamentary hearing, meaning it should come into effect before June 15.