ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTCL)’s acquisition of Telenor Pakistan is expected to weaken the country’s competitive landscape, according to the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP).
The CCP came to the provisional conclusion on Monday that there may be significantly less competition in the telecommunications sector as a result of PTCL’s acquisition of Telenor Pakistan (Private) Ltd and Orion Towers Private Ltd.
The telecom industry in Pakistan is dominated by four companies: Ufone, a division of PTCL, Jazz, Telenor, and Zong. Following the planned acquisition, there will only be three companies in the telecom sector as Ufone and Telenor combine to become as big as Jazz.
Through its subsidiaries in Pakistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), and Gilgit-Baltistan, PTCL, a publicly traded corporation, offers a range of telecommunication services, including cellular mobile phone, wireless local loop service, direct-to-home television service, and financial services.
As fully-owned subsidiaries of Telenor Pakistan BV, Telenor Pakistan and Orion Towers offer cellular mobile and related services in Pakistan, AJK, and GB.
According to the Phase-I evaluation of PTCL’s merger proposal, PTCL’s acquisition of Telenor might solidify its position as the industry leader.
In its decision, the CCP emphasized that the Pakistan communications Authority (PTA) had already designated PTCL, which was established in 1995, as a substantial market power (SMP) operator in the wholesale domestic leased line, wholesale IP bandwidth, and retail LDI fixed-line communications markets.
