India's Reliance Communications and Aircel are reportedly on track to complete negotiations over a proposed $6 billion merger by early July.
The operators are in advanced negotiations over the planned merger and are confident of being able to reach an agreement within the next four weeks, the Economic Timesreported, citing unnamed sources.
Under the proposal, RCom will spin off its wireless business into a separate special purpose vehicle that would then merge with Aircel. Both operators would hold a 50% stake in the combined company, which would operate under a new brand identity.
The operators then plan to bring aboard another overseas investor who would infuse around $500 million into the joint company, the report states.
The combined company would have a revenue market share of around 12% and combined annual revenues of around 250 billion rupees ($3.72 billion). It would also take on 140 billion rupees worth of debt from each parent operator.
Estimates of the size of the active subscriber base of the proposed new company vary from 120 million to 160 million.
RCom first entered negotiations with Aircel over a potential merger in December. The operator is separately in the process of acquiring Sistema Shyam Teleservices, which operates the MTS brand, from Russian parent company Sistema in a proposed $690 million deal.