MUMBAI: India's No. 3 mobile phone carrier, Idea Cellular , strongly denied a news report on Tuesday that it was in exploratory talks about a merger with larger rival Vodafone India.A spokeswoman for Idea's parent, conglomerate Aditya Birla , called the CNBC TV18 report of talks between Idea and Vodafone "baseless and absolutely false". "Shares in Idea closed 6.9 percent higher on Tuesday after the TV channel said the two sides were in talks, citing unnamed sources.A spokesman for Vodafone India, India's No. "It's very unlikely," PhillipCapital (India) analyst Naveen Kulkarni said, citing the regulatory hurdles. "I'm doubtful whether this can go through but there could be some other form of merger, such as spectrum-sharing deals," he added.

Source: Economic Times August 23, 2016 11:03 UTC