Telenor-Ufone merger nears completion

ISLAMABAD: The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has almost completed the first phase of the merger process regarding takeover of the Telenor Pakistan by the PTCL, and the report is expected to be finalised next week.

Sources in the commission said that the CCP teams have acquired almost all the required documents from all the relevant stakeholders and the analysis is likely to be completed by March 30.

Under the Competition Act 2010, the phase-I review of mergers is completed within 30 days after the acceptance of the application and the basic criteria for the phase-II review is to determine if the merger does not strengthen a dominant position.

The PTCL holds 100pc stake in Ufone, while the merger of PTCL/Ufone and Telenor Pakistan is less likely to pose any market distortion in the cellular landscape of Pakistan.

As per the data of the Pakistan Telecommuni­cation Authority (PTA), Telenor Pakistan is the third largest mobile telecom company with 44.78 million subscribers base, while Ufone is in the fourth slot having 25.28m subscribers.

While their collective subscriber base accounts for 70.06m the largest player in Pakistan is Jazz with 70.95m subscribers, or 37.31pc of the total market share, whereas the collective strength of Ufone and Telenor Pakistan will be 36.84pc of subscribers in the country.