India's Reliance Communications on Monday said it was holding exclusive negotiations with MTN Group with respect to a potential combination of their businesses.

The company issued the statement after the Financial Times reported that it had revived its earlier interest in joining up with the South African mobile carrier, following the sudden collapse of talks at the weekend between MTN and Bharti Airtel.

Reliance, India's second-largest mobile operator by subscriber numbers behind Bharti, said the two companies had entered into a period of exclusivity of up to 45 days.

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It did not provide details of the talks but according to people familiar with the matter, its offer was likely to be structured as a merger with the South African operator paid for with cash and shares.

Bharti announced its surprise exit from talks with MTN on Saturday, dashing hopes for a deal that would have created an emerging markets telecoms powerhouse with more than 130m customers in 22 countries across south Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Bharti accused MTN of proposing a change in the deal structure that would have made the Indian operator a subsidiary of the South African company.

Reliance last year approached MTN about a possible deal but later withdrew after inconclusive talks.

Aside from Reliance, Abu Dhabi-based Etisalat earlier this month said it was considering making an offer.

Among other groups mooted as possible suitors, UK-based Vodafone said it had earlier examined a bid but was now ruling out such a move. Deutsche Telekom was also not interested in pursuing a tie-up, people familiar with the German carrier's stance said.