Malaysia's Axiata seeks Indonesia telecom merger with Sinar Mas unit

JAKARTA -- Malaysian conglomerate Axiata Group and Indonesian peer Sinar Mas group have begun talks toward a merger of their telecommunications operations in Indonesia, as industry competition intensifies and growing infrastructure costs weigh on operators.

The two companies said on Wednesday they are at "an early stage of evaluation" for a proposed merger of their Indonesian units, XL Axiata and Smartfren, according to a statement from Axiata.