TIMELINE: Talks between India's Bharti and Sth Africa's MTN

(Reuters) - India's Bharti Airtel Ltd and South Africa's MTN Group said on Monday they restarted merger talks to create a major emerging markets telecoms group.

Last year, the biggest mobile operators in India and sub-Saharan Africa failed to reach agreement on a deal.

Subsequent talks between MTN and Reliance Communications, India's second-largest mobile operator, also failed.

Following is a timeline of the 2008 negotiations.

May 5: MTN Group says it is in talks with Bharti Airtel.

May 6: MTN shares jump and Bharti shares fall on talk Bharti was considering a takeover. Bharti says it has not made an offer.

May 12: The UAE's Emirates Telecommunications Corp says it is evaluating MTN as an acquisition.

May 13: Bharti says it has not made any bid for MTN, and discussions are still exploratory.

May 24: Bharti says it has ended talks with MTN Group after failing to agree on which company would control a combined entity.

May 26: Reliance Communications, India's No. 2 mobile operator, says it started 45-day exclusive talks with MTN Group to discuss potential combination of their businesses.

July 9: Reliance and MTN extend talks by two weeks.

July 18: Reliance Communications and MTN call off talks. Mukesh Ambani, the estranged brother of Reliance Communications chairman Anil Ambani, had made a claim on the shares of the Indian telecoms operator. This and a sharp drop in share prices created obstacles to completing a deal.

(Compiled by Janaki Krishnan; Editing by John Mair)