ISLAMABAD: In a major development for Pakistan’s telecom sector, the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) is going to announce its decision today (Wednesday) on PTCL’s $400 million acquisition of Telenor Pakistan, after the company’s board formally accepted and committed to all conditions imposed by the regulator.
The announcement is scheduled to be made during a press conference in Islamabad by CCP officials at 12:00 p.m.
The PTCL Policy Board has submitted written undertakings to comply with CCP’s stringent terms, effectively clearing the last hurdle in what has been one of the most exhaustive merger reviews in the Commission’s history.
The CCP applied the Substantial Lessening of Competition (SLC) Test across multiple sub-markets—cellular mobile, LDI services, fixed-line, leased lines, and IP bandwidth—before finalizing its conditions. Between September 2024 and August 2025, the regulator held five public hearings and several closed sessions with PTCL, Telenor, and industry stakeholders, demanding detailed disclosures ranging from regulatory separated accounts to interconnection agreements.
The 18-month review faced repeated delays and political pressure, but CCP Chairman Dr. Kabir Sidhu held the line, rejecting attempts to fast-track clearance without full compliance. PTCL’s legal claim earlier this year that CCP had become functus officio was dismissed, with the Commission asserting statutory timelines remained valid.
The pending order will bring Pakistan in line with international precedent, where large-scale telecom mergers often take up to two years to clear. Industry officials note that while the merger will create a highly concentrated operator by combining Ufone and Telenor Pakistan, CCP’s conditional approval framework aims to safeguard competition through measures on pricing, interconnection, infrastructure sharing, and fair market practices.
If enforced effectively, the merger could enhance efficiency, improve service quality, reduce infrastructure duplication, and generate significant cost savings for the sector.
The decision will mark a litmus test for CCP’s independence, as the regulator balances dominance concerns with the promise of sectoral efficiencies in one of Pakistan’s largest-ever telecom deals.
