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Competition Commission of Pakistan approves tie-up between country’s largest and smallest mobile network operators.
Mobilink has won approval from Pakistan’s competition authority for its planned acquisition of rival Warid Telecom, thereby clearing the first of several regulatory hurdles that stand in the way of the closure of the deal.
Warid announced on Tuesday that the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has approved the telcos’ merger request, but provided no further details of the body’s ruling in the case. The CCP itself has yet to make a formal announcement.
Vimpelcom-owned Mobilink in November agreed to acquire 100% of Warid Telecom’s shares, in return for Warid owner the Dhabi Group buying 15% of Mobilink’s shares. The firms did not disclose the transaction’s value.
Presuming it goes ahead, the merger will consolidate Mobilink’s position as Pakistan’s largest operator. It had 37.48 million mobile customers at the end of February, according to telco regulator the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), giving it a 28.9% share of the market.
Warid is the smallest of the country’s five mobile network operators with 10.91 million customers at the same date and an 8.4% market share.
Thus, together the operators control 37.3% of the market
"The combination of Mobilink and Warid will be a positive step for the development of technology and communications services in Pakistan," said Vimpelcom CEO Jean-Yves Charlier, in a statement.
"Together, the future entity will serve more than 45 million customers through a best-in-class mobile and high-speed network, and bring further investment into infrastructure and digital services for consumers in Pakistan as they navigate the digital world," he said.
Meanwhile, Mobilink president and CEO Jeffrey Hedberg described the CCP green light as "an important milestone in the merger process [that] paves the way for other regulatory approvals."
He added: "We appreciate the role played by the CCP during this process and we look forward to progressing with the remaining regulatory bodies in the coming days."
