HELSINKI: Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said on Thursday the government could increase its ownership of telecom operators to secure the operation of IT infrastructure in the event of a crisis.

"In the end, it is the state that guarantees society's basic functions will run in all circumstances. In this respect, state ownership should not be feared and it can often be the best way to secure things," Vanhanen told public broadcaster YLE.

Finland's government is carrying out a large review to establish how the information technology dependent society could keep running in the event of a natural disaster, a large power cut, a war or any other exceptional situation.

Earlier this year, a working group suggested the state could acquire a sufficient ownership in critical telecommunication infrastructure to guarantee security.

"It is not necessary about owning, there can be other ways and these ways have to reviewed and compared with each other," Vanhanen said.

In Finland the backbone network is owned by telecom companies TeliaSonera, Elisa and Finnet.

The Finnish government already owns 10 percent of the shares in Elisa and 13.7 percent of TeliaSonera, whose largest shareholder is the Swedish government with a stake of around 37 percent.