Grameen's Yunus says lawsuit vs Telenor "remote"

OSLO, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Nobel peace laureate Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh said on Friday that it was only a "remote possibility" that his Grameen Telecom would need to take legal action against Norwegian telecom operator Telenor (TEL.OL: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

The remarks from Yunus followed a warning late on Thursday from the Bangladeshi economist that Grameen Telecom might file suit against Telenor in a dispute over their co-owned Bangladesh mobile phone operator Grameenphone.

"This is not an outcome that we think is necessary," Yunus told a news conference. "It is a possibility, a remote possibility."

Telenor controls Grameenphone, Bangladesh's biggest mobile operator, with a 62 percent stake. Grameen Telecom owns the rest.

Yunus, who won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize with his Grameen Bank for lifting millions out of poverty, says a 1996 agreement with Telenor stipulates that control of Grameenphone must eventually be handed over to the poor of Bangladesh, meaning Grameen Telecom. (Reporting by John Acher; editing by John Wallace)