Etisalat gets control of Pakistan telecom firm

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.