The decision of Indian and South African cell-phone giants Bharti Airtel and MTN to revive their merger talks to creating a US$61 billion behemoth – the world’s third-largest telecom company – by no means indicates that India’s largest-ever transnational deal will survive the hurdles ahead.

These include raising as much as $4 billion in bridging finance and Indian regulators concerned at the level of foreign ownership involved. Investors are also worried at just how much can be gleaned from subscribers in territories that include war-torn countries such as Afghanistan, Congo and Sudan. Source

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