MTN sounds out India's Bharti for talks - report

MUMBAI, July 15 (Reuters) - South Africa's MTN (MTNJ.J) has sounded out India's Bharti Airtel (BRTI.BO) for reviving merger talks if it fails to agree a deal with Reliance Communications (RLCM.BO), the Economic Times reported on Tuesday.

Citing a source linked with the discussions, the newspaper said the South African telecom firm had "sent feelers" to Bharti, India's No. 1 mobile operator, but a formal approach was unlikely until after a deadline for exclusive talks with Reliance ends on July 21.

"The Indian telco was very open to take the discussions with MTN forward if such possibilities existed," the paper quoted the source as saying, referring to Bharti.

A spokesman for Bharti said the company would not comment on market speculation.

Bharti ended takeover talks with MTN in May after failing to agree on which company would control the combined entity.

MTN and Reliance, India's No. 2 mobile operator, last week extended a 45-day exclusive talks deadline to forge a tie-up to create a top-10 global telecom group.

Talks between the two have been marred by a claim on Reliance Communications shares by Mukesh Ambani, the estranged brother of Reliance Communications Chairman Anil Ambani.

"It is possible that MTN may have sounded out Bharti in order to keep RCOM (Reliance Communications) on its toes," the newspaper said. (Reporting by Narayanan Somasundaram; Editing by Ranjit Gangadharan)