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MTN, Reliance Comm could reopen talks

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CIOL Bureau
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MUMBAI, JUNE: South Africa's MTN, the continent's biggest cellphone carrier, could reopen merger talks with India's Reliance Communications at a board meeting on Tuesday, India's Economic Times newspaper reported, citing a single unidentified source.

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The two carriers failed to do a deal two years ago when Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani asserted a right of first refusal on the sale of a stake in Reliance Communications, which is controlled by his brother Anil.

Late last month, the long-estranged Ambani brothers agreed to end the agreement that prevented them from competing on each other's turf in a deal that, among other possible outcomes, was seen to pave the way for Reliance Communications to bring in outside investors.

MTN, which is in talks to buy assets from Egypt's Orascom Telecom, has been thwarted in past efforts to join up with an Indian operator. It twice came close to a tie-up with Bharti Airtel, most recently in September.

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An official with Reliance Communications could not immediately be reached for comment.

MTN declined to confirm that such a board meeting was taking place, the Economic Times said.

A Monday Financial Times story quoted one person familiar with both MTN and Reliance Communications as calling the idea of an MTN return to India "beyond absurd".

Shares in Reliance Communications, locked in a ferocious price war in India's crowded cellular market, were down by 0.55 percent in early Tuesday trade in Mumbai, roughly in line with the broader benchmark.

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