Now MTN eyes RComm for possible merger

New Delhi, May 25: A day after Bharti Airtel calling off the merger deal with MTN, the South African firm is believed to be in talks with Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Communications for the possible merger. The discussions between sub-Saharan Africa's biggest mobile operator, MTN, and Reliance Communications (RComm) are under way, said a weekend report on the WSJ Asia website citing people closed to the development.

However, the sources added that the ongoing discussions could go nowhere. RComm, with a subscriber base of about 47 million by April-end, had reported revenues of Rs 19,06,800 crore in FY08. Bharti Airtel had pulled out of talks with MTN Group, saying the two firms could not reach an agreement over the structure of a combined firm. The South African telecom giant, present in Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Zambia and Uganda, had 68.2 million subscribers as of March while its annual revenue is about 9.6 billion dollars.

UNI