BARCELONA, Feb 29 (Reuters) - Spain's Cellnex on Thursday posted a 14% rise in 2023 adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation to 3 billion euros ($3.24 billion) as revenue grew 16% and free cash flow turned positive earlier than forecast.

Europe's largest mobile phone tower operator still had a net loss of 297 million euros, the same amount as in 2022, due to the impact of amortisations and financial costs associated with prior acquisitions.

Free cash flow was a positive 150 million euros last year, a goal the company had set for 2024. It swung from a negative 1.1 billion euros in 2022, with the company attributing the improvement largely to tower sales in France as part of the remedies imposed by regulators following its acquisition of Hivory in 2021.

Cellnex has switched focus from expanding through acquisitions to reducing debt and has been accelerating the divestment of some assets for that purpose. It also reiterated its goal of obtaining a credit rating upgrade in 2024.

Its net debt totalled 17.3 billion euros at the end of last year, around 200 million lower than in the third quarter. It said it had access to immediate liquidity worth 4.6 billion euros. ($1 = 0.9254 euros) (Reporting by Joan Faus, editing by Andrei Khalip)