Telefonica SA (TEF) said Friday that negotiations with Telecom Italia SpA (TI) to buy its German broadband unit Hansenet are in its final stages.

"We are at the final stage (of the Hansenet purchase), the pricing," Telefonica's Chief Operating Officer Julio Linares said in a meeting with journalists.

Hansenet had 2.34 million broadband customers at the end of 2008 in Germany, and is worth around EUR1.1 billion, according to analysts' estimates.

Telecom Italia is selling Hansenet as part of a plan to dispose of non-core assets. Telefonica owns a stake in Telecom Italia through the holding company Telco.

Telefonica is Spain's largest telecommunications company by market value and customers and has operations throughout Europe and Latin America.

Company Web site: http://www.telefonica.com

-By Jason Sinclair, Dow Jones Newswires, 34 913958127, jason.sinclair@dowjones.com