New Delhi - India's telecom major Bharti Airtel and South Africa's MTN Wednesday terminated their talks for a proposed 24- billion-dollar financial alliance that could have created the world's largest mobile phone entity. On the day of the latest deadline for the agreement, the Indian company said the proposed deal was called off after South African authorities declined to accept certain regulatory constraints on part of both sides, the IANS news agency reported.
"This structure needed an approval from the government of South Africa that has expressed its inability to accept it in the current form," a statement by Bharti Airtel said.
"In view of this, both companies have taken the decision to disengage from discussion," the statement mentioned.
"The alliance planned between Bharti and MTN was a vision based on solid fundamentals, which had the potential of creating an emerging markets telecom giant and the third largest telecom company in the world," the company said.
Reports said the issue of dual listing of MTN to maintain its identity in the merged company appeared to have been the main hurdle in the talks lasting over four months.
The deal, estimated at 24 billion dollars in cash and equity, had called for Bharti to get 49 per cent stake in MTN, while the South African company and its shareholders would get 36 per cent equity in the Indian telecom giant.
The IANS reported that the South African government was pushing for a dual listing as it would have allowed MTN to retain its national character.
But Indian authorities were disinclined.
"We cannot merge two companies and still keep their identities apart," India's Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said earlier on Wednesday.
The telecom majors had begun a second round of talks end of May after they had called off negotiations last year. This time, the Indian establishment had also backed the proposal at the highest level.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had strongly backed the deal which he took up with South African President Jacob Zuma at the G-20 summit in the US last week.
The potential transaction would have created the third largest mobile company worldwide, with combined revenues of over 20 billion annually and a subscriber base of 200 million.
