Bangladesh's High Court has given the government yet more time to decide whether to approve the proposed merger between Robi Axiata and Airtel Bangladesh.
The court has given the government 22 more days to settle the matter, delaying the hearing until June 6, the Dhaka Tribunereported.
This marks the fifth time the High Court has accepted a time extension request from the government over the proposed merger.
One sticking point holding up approval of the merger is the question of whether the proposed new entity should have to pay more for spectrum to reflect the difference between the sum each operator paid for 1800-MHz spectrum.
Robi and Airtel announced plans to pursue a merger in Januaryfollowing months of negotiations. Under the proposed deal, Axiata Group would own a controlling 68.3% of the company, with 25% held by Bharti Airtel and 6.7% by existing shareholder NTT DoCoMo.
The combined company would be the second largest operator by subscribers in Bangladesh after Bharti Airtel, and would also have the widest network reach of any operator in the nation.