A new round of hearings took place at the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP), following the fourth hearing in the CCP’s Phase II Merger Review of Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited’s (PTCL) acquisition plan. PTCL aims to purchase the entirety of Telenor Pakistan (Private) Limited and Orion Towers (Private) Limited.
PTCL outlines merger benefits
In the most recent and fifth hearing, senior PTCL representative Rahat Kaunain (former chairperson of CCP) and another PTCL representative Mariam Saleem Malik talked about the issues that competing phone network providers like Wateen, Jazz, and Zong had raised in earlier hearings.
CCP provided a platform for PTCL, Wateen, Jazz, and Telenor to present their perspectives, and PTCL highlighted the benefits of the merger, including the resolution of market share disparities among main telecom competitors.
PTCL also considered issues like input risk and customer foreclosure. The person who proposed the merger reminded everyone that they had carefully thought through the benefits and principles behind it, such as saving money, making the network bigger, and making technological advancements.
PTCL’s acquisition of Telenor Pakistan and 5G launch
Representatives from PTCL said that the merger would also make it easier to roll out 5G services in the country. They also told the bench that MergeCo, the new company, would follow the spectrum-sharing rules that the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) would issue.
Although Jazz and Wateen’s lawyers were not happy with what the other side said, they understood industry problems such as tariff regulations, infrastructure sharing, national roaming, and how cellular mobile operators (CMOs) work.
