Telecom wizard Sunil Mittal has said Bharti Airtel would not call South Africa's MTN again, after renewed merger talks between the two companies failed for want of government approval.
In his first public appearance after talks were called off on September 30, Mittal, who is CMD of Bharti Airtel said, "No further talks with MTN and the current round is over."
Bharti was in exclusive talks with South African MTN for a deal that would have created the third largest global telecom player with revenues of 20 billion dollars and over 200 million subscribers.
This is the second time in just over a year that talks have collapsed.
"We had a target. We worked for very long (for deal with MTN) but it did not work, he said, adding, "You cannot predict cross-border deals, issues keep coming up and we were trying to overcome hurdles."
He further said that 'in the absence of critical government approval, not from Indian side, but from South African side, it not was possible to proceed with the transaction'.
Mittal also said MTN wanted an approval to invest in India and the issue of dual listing came up in the last stages of discussions.
Image: Sunil Mittal
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