UAE's HKB group in talks to acquire majority shares in teetering Wi-Tribe

Karachi: One of the largest business groups in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Hammad bin Khalifa Department of Projects (HBKDOP) is already in discussions to acquire a majority share in one of Pakistan's largest independent broadband providers, Wi-Tribe.

The HBK group works in the Middle-East, Africa, South Asia, and Central Asia. The news come from official statements, with Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, chairman of the Arab Investment Development Authority (AIDA) and HBK Holdings, saying acquiring Wi-Tribe would allow his group to get a good position in Pakistan's telecommunication game.

The Hamad Bin Khalifa Departments of Projects (HBK DOP) was founded by Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Nahyan to handle project investments through strategic joint venture partnerships.

“Wi-tribe investment opportunity provides HBK a footprint into Pakistan Telecom's space as a firm foundation to consolidate the ongoing investment interest for the telecom infrastructure acquisition,” read a statement from the Sheikh.

Wi-Tribe, which has been un-operational in Karachi since July due to a dispute with the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), has main offices in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi and until early 2016 was owned by Qatar Telecom. After that it was bought by the Pakistani conglomerate, HB International Investments.

Back in July, Wi-Tribe was at the center of a dispute with the company that provides its towers — edotco — which had terminated its connection. The payments scuffle came during the peak coronavirus days in the country, which is what Wi-Tribe officials have tried to pin the dispute on.

However, Wi-Tribe has slowly been losing ground and customers over the years. It was launched in Pakistan in July 2009 by Qatar-based Ooredoo QSC which sold the stakes of its subsidiary Wi Tribe Pakistan to HB Offshore Investment Ltd for around 32.7 million Qatri riyals in March 2016.

The customer base of company has only withered since then. There were 207,000 WiMAX users in Pakistan at the end of December 2015, just before its sale to the incumbent management. By July 2019 that figure had dropped to 26,512 and today it has further dropped to 16,245 by the end of May 2020.

Perhaps because of this, the majority shares acquisition is still not a done deal, even though it is definitely in discussions, as explained by Haris Hasan Khan, CEO of Emergent Telecommunications, a project arm of HB International Investments.

"The deal has not yet been finalized, but HBKDOP had shown interest in buying majority stakes," he said in a statement given to Arab News. “They are interested in majority stakes, but this has not been finalised yet. I cannot give a figure, but it will be double digit US dollars, which means in the millions.”