Etisalat gets control of Pakistan telecom firm
UAE firm Emirates Telecommunications (Etisalat) has taken over management control of Pakistan's state-owned telecoms company, the privatisation agency said.
Islamabad: UAE firm Emirates Telecommunications (Etisalat) has taken over management control of Pakistan's state-owned telecoms company, the privatisation agency said.
Last month, Pakistan signed an agreement to transfer a 26 per cent stake in Pakistan Telecommunication worth $2.6 billion to Etisalat, the country's big-gest privatisation to date.
"The completion of the successful privatisation of PTCL is a milestone in the privatisation and investment programme of Pakistan," the Privatisation Commission said in a statement.
Under the deal the UAE firm had paid $1.4 billion up front for the stake, with the rest of the amount to be provided in nine semi-annual instalments, the statement said.
"The handing over of PTCL management to (Etisalat) will help usher in the new era of telecommunications service in the country," the statement quoted Minister for Information Technology, Awais Ahmad Khan Laghari, as saying.
Hurdles
PTCL is Pakistan's second-largest listed company and has a market value of $4.3 billion. The deal with Etisalat involves 1.33 billion shares out of a total of 5.1 billion.
An earlier deal in June last year ran into trouble after the UAE firm failed to meet payment deadlines.
Share this article
More from Telecoms
More from Business
Popular in Business

-
Budget travel
Airlines in the region
Take a pictorial look at some of the budget airlines in GCC
Business Editor's choice
-
Experts seek solutions to global gloom
Suggestions formulated in Dubai will feature in next year's WEF
-
Qatar benefits from diversification
Doha's readiness to look beyond hydrocarbons as a growth engine bodes well
-
When the Web lives worldwide
Cutting-edge firms are building massive data facilities all over the globe


