Two top mobile phone operators in the country, Robi and Airtel today signed the formal deal for merging together in the country.

The signing between both the operators' parent company Axiata Group Berhad ("Axiata") and Bharti Airtel Limited ("Bharti") took place in Kuala Lumpur.

However, their application is yet to be approved by the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Company.

The agreement follows the announcement made on September 9 2015 which discussed about both the parties entering into an exclusive agreement to explore the possibility of combining the business operations in Bangladesh.

The prospective merged company will run under the brand name of Robi, reads a statement.

Upon completion, Axiata will hold 68.7 percent of the controlling stake in the combined entity, while Bharti will hold 25 percent. The remaining 6.3 percent will be held by the existing shareholder, Axiata of Japan.

Currently Axiata has 91.59 percent control of Robi and DOCOMO has over 8.41 percent.