Mobilink and Waird combined entity to serve 50 million mobile subscribers
International telecom groups VimpelCom and Global Telecom Holding together with Warid Telecom Pakistan and Bank Alfalah, a subsidiary of the Dhabi Group, completed the merger of Pakistani telecom operators Mobilink and Warid Telecom.
The combined entity is set to serve approximately 50 million subscribers in the Asian nation, providing 2G, 3G and LTE services across Pakistan.
“VimpelCom continues to make significant progress against its transformation program. This market consolidation represents a further step in our strategy to strengthen our position in the markets in which we operate,” said VimpelCom CEO Jean-Yves Charlier. “We look forward to bringing innovative new products and services to our customers in Pakistan.”
Mobilink and Warid are set to benefit from VimpelCom’s $1 billion investment plan, which is said to support faster roll out of new local products and services, particularly in the areas of mobile entertainment, communications, the “internet of things” and mobile financial services.
VimpelCom, GTH and Dhabi Group last November announced the agreement to combine their Pakistan telecommunication businesses. Under terms of the deal, Mobilink completed the acquisition of 100% of Warid’s shares, while the Dhabi Group Shareholders acquired 15% of the shares of Mobilink. The operator has been approved by all the relevant regulatory authorities in Pakistan.
The legal merger of the two companies is expected to be completed within six months. The two firms shortly plan to file a petition to the local authorities in order to start the merger process.
The companies said the transaction is expected to create capital expense and operating expense synergies with a net present value of approximately $500 million. The combined revenue of both companies for the twelve months to March 2016 was $1.4 billion.
MobiFone launches LTE trials in Vietnam
In other APAC news, Vietnam’s second largest mobile operator MobiFone announced the launch of its pilot LTE network and a new digital television service, MobiTV, in Hanoi, Danang and Ho Chi Minh City. The move follows the launch of trial LTE services by market leader Viettel Telecom in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province late last year.
Rival operator VNPT-Vinaphone launched LTE-Advanced technology in Phu Quoc and Ho Chi Minh City in January. The Ministry of Information and Communications is looking to to award spectrum licenses later this year or in early 2017, according to previous reports.
