From correspondents in Delhi, India, 09:32 PM IST

Indian telecom major Bharti Airtel and South African telecom giant MTN are yet to finalise their much-awaited merger deal, a senior official said here Friday.

'There is nothing as of now,' a Bharti spokesperson said adding the company would update markets only Monday.

Earlier the companies had said the talks on the deal would be concluded by July 31.

The companies revived talks in May this year.

Earlier this month, the market regulator had permitted Airtel and MTN to go ahead with their proposal to buy each other's shares in a $25 billion deal without the latter having to make an open offer in Indian equities markets.

The talks between the two telecom giants had collapsed earlier after Airtel rejected MTN's proposal that would have made the Indian firm a subsidiary of the South African company.

Following that, the South African group had started negotiations with the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, which also failed.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)