CCP to Approve PTCL-Telenor Merger With New Conditions

The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) is likely to approve the merger of Telenor Pakistan with Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) subject to new conditions, top sources told ProPakistani. Just as new conditions were introduced during the Warid-Jazz merger, CCP will apply a fresh set of conditions to the PTCL-Telenor deal. This settlement option was offered after PTCL approached the Special Investment Facilitation Council to help avoid any further delays in the merger talks. The merger application was pending for nearly a year due to the company’s failure to provide the necessary documentation and respond to extensive queries raised by the CCP. Officials from the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication said PTCL also failed to respond adequately to objections raised by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), which has served multiple notices to the company over its dominant market position. During the second phase of the merger review, CCP sought data from PTA to ensure that the proposed merger would not distort competition or further entrench PTCL’s market dominance. The issue of $800 million in unresolved dues also remains pending, despite a previous agreement to release $640 million.