(Telecompaper) Hutchison Whampoa and VimpelCom are set to resume negotiations about a possible merger of their respective Italian mobile phone units, 3 Italia and Wind Telecomunicazioni, according to unnamed sources cited by Italian daily Il Giornale. Executives from the two parent companies met at the offices of Deutsche Bank in London on 16 February to resume talks that were called off by Vimpelcom in October, said the sources. The companies had been holding on-off talks since December 2013, with Wind's debt of around EUR 9.5 billion representing the main a hurdle to a deal. Wind is currently the third largest mobile operator in Italy behind Telecom Italia (TIM) and Vodafone, with 3 Italia coming in fourth. A merger would create a company with around 33 million customers and annual revenues of some EUR 7 billion.