Bharti, MTN officials meet DoT secy to explain deal

Country's biggest GSM mobile company Bharti Airtel and South African MTN today apprised the Telecom Ministry of their proposed $23-billion deal that could create one of the top three wireless companies in the world.

According to highly placed DoT sources, Bharti officials, along with the advisers of MTN --  Merril Lynch and Deutsche Bank -- made a presentation to Telecom Secretary Sidhhrath Behura.

The meeting that lasted for over two hours centered on the structure of the deal its compliance with the Indian laws. The meeting also focused on how the deal would ring in benefits to the country and give a signal to foreign investors to the investment-friendly atmosphere here.

The two companies are in exclusive talks till July 31 for a proposed merger between them.

Meanwhile, there were reports that both the companies are expected to extend the exclusive talks beyond July 31 by atleast two to three weeks given the complexity of the deal.

A Bharti spokesman, however, when asked about these reports merely said, "Beyond what we have already communicated in our press note, we have no further comment to offer at the moment."

The two firms in May agreed to hold exclusive talks till July 31 to finalise a deal that could create the world's third-largest wireless group with more than 200 million subscribers.