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TeliaSonera and Telenor fail to get Danish merger approved

* TeliaSonera, Telenor could not agree terms with EU regulators

* Operators continue to review strategic options in Denmark

* Decision raises worries for approval of other mergers in Europe (Adds comments from EU Commission, consultant, background)

By Olof Swahnberg and Leila Abboud

STOCKHOLM/PARIS, Sept 11 (Reuters) - TeliaSonera and Telenor have abandoned their planned merger in Denmark because of stiff opposition from European regulators, raising concerns that larger mobile telecom deals pending in the UK and Italy might also run into trouble.

The decision, announced by the two companies on Friday, is the first time that regulators have scuppered such a deal since European mobile network operators embarked on an acquisition spree in early 2013.

The rejection also caused investors to worry that EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager was taking a harder line than predecessor Joaquin Almunia, who had approved similar mobile consolidation deals in Austria, Ireland and Germany.

Vestager, who took office last November, said on Friday that Teliasonera and Telenor had not done enough to allay her concerns that reducing the number of mobile network operators in Denmark would have damaged competition and risked higher prices being charged to consumers.

"What we were looking at were very serious concerns. To me it was necessary to have a fourth mobile operator," Vestager told reporters on the sidelines of a conference.

However, she said there should be no conclusions drawn with regard to the two merger deals in the UK and Italy, which would also reduce the number of mobile network operators in those markets to three from four and which Vestager will examine in the coming months.

One distinction for the abortive Danish deal is that Teliasonera and Telenor already shared a network in Denmark, so had fewer options to divest parts of the network to a new player to win over regulators, analysts said.

Nevertheless, competition lawyers said Vestager appeared to be laying out a different framework for remedies to maintain competition than her predecessor.

In Austria, Ireland and Germany the Commission had required the merging companies to wholesale network capacity to rival service providers known as mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs).

But in Denmark Vestager indicated that she wanted the creation of a new rival network owner, said Antonios Drossos, a consultant at Rewheel, which has opposed past mobile consolidation deals.

"I believe that the Commission will no longer accept MVNOs as an effective remedy in a merger situation," he said.