--Deutsche Telekom and Orange held talks examining a "merger of equals" between May and September 2017, Le Monde reports.

--However, discussions were called off when it became clear that because Deutsche Telekom is twice the size of Orange, the merger would have become a "pure and simple" absorption of the French company, Le Monde reports.

Full story in French: http://bit.ly/2F3za2W

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 22, 2018 11:15 ET (16:15 GMT)