Telenor, one of the world’s largest telecom companies, has raised concerns over the ongoing delays in the regulatory approval process for the sale of Telenor Pakistan to Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTCL), which has now been pending for 21 months since the transaction was first announced in December 2023.
In a statement released on Friday, Telenor described the delay as a departure from the clear and consistent trend of telecom consolidation approvals seen across Asia. The company pointed to successful mergers in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Sri Lanka, where regulators acted promptly to enable industry consolidation, which is seen as crucial for capital-intensive investments in the telecom sector.
Telenor emphasized that in Pakistan, the merger between Mobilink and Warid in 2016 resulted in Jazz, which currently holds a 38% mobile subscriber market share and 44% revenue market share. The merger was approved in just three months.
The proposed sale of Telenor Pakistan to PTCL would create a new number two mobile player in the market, with a 36% subscriber market share and an estimated 32% revenue share, Telenor said. Arnstein Sletmoe, Head of M&A at Telenor Group, highlighted that this transaction falls within the range of other approved telecom mergers in Asia.
Telenor further cited a report from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) warning that Pakistan is lagging in digital transformation and that the delay in approval risks worsening the already challenging environment for the telecom sector.
Jon Omund Revhaug, Head of Telenor Asia, stressed that the delay in approving the sale to PTCL risks eroding investor confidence and undermining the growth of the sector. He pointed out that telecom companies with a mobile revenue market share of around 20%, such as Telenor Pakistan, cannot sustain over time.
The company also noted that telecom investments in Pakistan have dropped by more than 60% in less than four years, according to the Pakistan Economic Survey FY 2025, underlining the need for restructuring the sector to attract future investments.
