According to reliable sources, PTCL Group has expressed interest in acquiring Telenor Pakistan’s whole operations and management.
If sources are to be believed, PTCL would likely inform its shareholders about the group’s intent to acquire Telenor in a public filing today or tomorrow at the latest.
Telenor Group, which has telecom businesses in nine nations around Europe and Asia, is now refocusing on European markets following the merger of its Thai operations.
Similar developments may occur in Pakistan, where the mobile division of the PTCL group, PTCL, may merge Telenor with Ufone.
In the past, the Telenor Group shut down its activities in Indonesia, Myanmar, and India.
ProPakistani is able to affirm that both parties are in advance conversations and that an announcement could be made shortly, despite the fact that more information about the development has not yet been made public.
We can also reveal that a group of senior PTCL representatives visited the 345 headquarters in Islamabad.
Telenor has been pressing for a long time to leave the Pakistani market, and in fact, there had been multiple efforts with fruitless negotiations.
According to insiders, the cost of the deal caused the previous attempt to fail. This time, however, it appears that negotiations have progressed to the point where both parties have agreed to a settlement price of about $700 million.
If everything goes according to plan for PTCL, the combination of Ufone and Telenor Pakistan with 72 million mobile consumers could arise from the transaction, nearly matching Jazz’s long-standing leadership position with around 74 million customers.
As you may remember, Ufone fell behind Telenor in 2008 in terms of cellular subscribers and was never able to make up ground.
Ufone has a history of being aggressive, especially with the way e& (formerly Etisalat) intends to position itself in the local market.
Given the country’s declining ARPUs, economic hardship, and political unrest, Ufone’s purchase of spectrum last year was seen as a risky decision by the operator.
According to appearances, the PTCL group is now seeking to increase its position in Pakistan’s telecom business with significant backing from e&.
Aside from that, Jazz now holds 47.2 MHz in various bands of spectrum for its 74 million subscribers, while Zong has 33.6 MHz for its 45 million subscribers, making the combined Ufone/Telenor the operator with the greatest spectrum in the sector.
Both Ufone and Telenor have been struggling with telecom companies in Pakistan for a number of years.
Due to Ufone’s delayed adoption of 4G and subsequent lack of investments (for network upgrades) between 2015 and 2020, the operator struggled at the bottom of the market.
On the other hand, Telenor struggled, mostly because the Group lost interest in the Asian regions. After reading its financial reports, you could assume that Telenor has been having financial difficulties.
As Zong and Jazz steadily rocked the boat at a speed that was impossible for Ufone and Telenor to keep up with, things only became worse for both companies.
Since the industry has become more established and customer acquisition costs are either too high or not feasible for Ufone, the planned merger would allow it to gain a whopping 45 million new customers.