Saudi company set to enter Pak telecom sector

ISLAMABAD: In a welcoming development, Saudi Telecom Company (STC) — a leading integrated ICT infrastructure company of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Middle East region — is all set to make inroads into Pakistan’s economy by acquiring 100 percent stakes of Pakistan-based AWAL Telecom Company. In AWAL Telecom, a Romanian company is the majority shareholder.

“Yes, TAWAL which is the subsidiary of STC has agreed to acquire full stakes of Pakistan-based AWAL Telecom Company and the completion of acquisition process is subject to regulatory approvals,” Shehryar Khan, head of Business Department of the AWAL Telecom, confirmed.

TAWAL owns a portfolio of 15,500 telecom towers across the Kingdom. TAWAL’s core activities involve designing, building, and managing telecom infrastructure facilities that enable the state-of-the-art modular connectivity for mobile network operators and other government organisations. Through this agreement, AWAL Telecom will be incorporated into the TAWAL organisation and continue working on expanding infrastructure for the benefit of mobile network operators in Pakistan.

He said that AWAL Telecom has its networks of towers in FATA, including North and South Waziristan, Orakzai agency, KPK, Islamabad and Rawalpindi and provides full fleet of services to four operators in Pakistan --- Jazz, Telenor, Ufone and Zong. He further explained that Awal Telecom provides to the operators the services of towers, power and operation and maintenance (O&M).

Khan said that TAWAL, the largest passive infrastructure company of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, has already signed an agreement to fully acquire AWAL Telecom. When asked as to what is the size of the sale deal and how much TAWAL will invest in Pakistan-based company, he refused to divulge any information, saying once the deal is formally done with regulatory approvals, all this information will be unfolded.

AWAL Telecom (Pvt) Ltd is a Passive Telecommunications Tower Provider Company founded in 2014 in Islamabad, Pakistan under the licence from Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA). Mr Olayan Alwetaid, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Saudi Telecom Group, in his statement said that TAWAL is looking forward to fruitful partnerships with the country’s mobile network operators and meeting the demand for robust telecommunications infrastructure there. And after the acquisition process is completed, TAWAL will bring significant capital investment, develop its operations and enhance expertise in the Pakistani market.

Mohammed Alhakbani, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), TAWAL, said Pakistan is an exciting market with high growth potential. “Pakistan has four major mobile network operators servicing 238 million people. The country currently has over 189 million cellular subscribers and 108 million-plus 3G/4G subscribers with mobile voice and mobile broadband subscriptions having seen double-digit growth in recent years.”