UAE telecom giant Etisalat said it was not in talks to buy the tower arm of Reliance Communications, a major Indian telecommunication company.

'At this time, we are not considering an acquisition of Reliance Infratel,' Ahmed bin Ali, Etisalat group senior vice president corporate communications, said in an emailed statement.

In May, Reliance said it had received several offers for its 95 per cent stake in its tower arm, Reliance Infratel, without naming the bidders.

Saddled with more than $7 billion in net debt and having seen seven straight quarters of profit declines, India's second-largest mobile carrier has so far been unsuccessful in its efforts to raise funds to cut debt.

Etisalat owns about 45 per cent of Indian mobile firm Etisalat DB, formerly Swan Telecom, with the Indian operator caught up in a corruption probe into whether mobile phone licences and radio spectrum were sold at below-market prices in return for kickbacks.-Reuters