Swedish-Finnish telecoms giant reports quarterly profit rise.

• Nokia Siemens buys Motorola assets for $1.2 bln
• Sony Ericsson swings to profit after price hike

Nordic telecoms giant TeliaSonera reported a quarterly profit rise on Tuesday, close to expectations, and said earnings in the second half of the year would be similar to the first.

"Growth in net sales in local currencies and excluding acquisitions for 2010 is expected to be in line with the first half of 2010" when it reached 3.0 percent, the company said in a statement.

The Swedish-Finnish group, present in the Nordic countries, in Turkey, Russia, and in ex-Soviet states in Europe and Central Asia, had previously said it expected a small increase in growth.

Between April and June, the group's net profit was 5.24 billion kronor (550 million euros, 712 million dollars), against 4.47 billion 12 months earlier.

Sales dropped 2.0 percent to 26.96 billion, against 27.42 billion for the same period last year.

Analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had expected the profit figure but planned for slightly weeker sales, at 26.77 billion.

Nordea bank analyst Stefan Gauffin told Dow Jones the results met expectations and that the group's developing markets in Russia, Turkey and Asia showed healthy sales.

In mid-morning trading on the Stockholm Stock Exchange, TeliaSonera shares were down 2.36 percent to 51.75 kroner on a market down 1.08 percent.

The company's main Nordic rivals, Norway's Telenor and Sweden's TeliaSonera, will publish their earnings reports on Wednesday.