Telcos merger nears settlement

The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) is expected to grant approval to the merger of Telenor Pakistan with Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) if its settlement option is accepted, which comes following intervention from the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC). PTCL's merger application has been pending for the past almost one year as its management has yet to provide relevant documents to address scores of queries. A CCP letter sent to PTCL lawyer Rahat Kaunain Hassan in the case refers to Section 11(11) of the Competition Act 2010, offering a new settlement option to the company. PTCL sources revealed that the option provided by the CCP included an investment of around $1 billion by the UAE-based telecom company e& (erstwhile Etisalat) that holds management control of PTCL.