European firm nears deal with Etisalat

KARACHI: A European company is in the final stretch of negotiations about a $500 million sale deal with Etisalat.

Sources told The News that the government of Pakistan has been formally informed about the deal. Etisalat, which owns majority shares of Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) and Ufone, has completed all the formalities in this regard. “The negotiations are at final stages and the formal announcement will be made in due course of time,” said the sources.

They added the European mobile phone company, Telenor Pakistan, will be sold for about $500 million, which is equivalent to over Rs143 billion. With an which is equivalent to over Rs1.43 trillion. With an addition of Telenor Pakistan’s 48 million consumers, the tally of Ufone consumers will top 72 million as Ufone already has 24 million consumers in Pakistan.

However, the company will still be short of 3 million consumers as compared to Jazz Pakistan which holds 75 million consumers in the country.

With the development in sight, only three mobile companies would be operating in Pakistan – Jazz, Ufone and Zong.

It is pertinent to mention that the IT minister had recently announced that the interests of Telenor Pakistan’s employees would be protected in case of any deal for the sale of Telenor Pakistan.