Spice says Idea merger talk is speculative

Indian mobile firm Spice Telecom was moving ahead with plans for an initial public offering and media reports it would merge with larger rival Idea Cellular were speculative, a company official said on Wednesday.

As expected Spice would merge with Idea, and was being valued at between 45-50 billion rupees.

Earlier this week, a newspaper had reported that a merger was a possibility, but such a deal could take up to one year.

"These are all speculative news items. Our IPO process has already progressed actively," Umang Das, a director at Spice Telecom, told Reuters.

He declined to comment further.

A spokeswoman for Idea Cellular's parent, Aditya Birla Group, declined comment.

Spice Telecom provides services in two of the 23 circles or zones that make up India's telecoms market, and had 2.8 million subscribers as of end-April.

Idea Cellular, which provides services in 13 circles, had 14.6 million subscribers at the end of April.