The new management of Ufone and Telenor Pakistan has decided to rebrand their merged telecom company and has filed an application with Pakistan Telecommunication Authority in this regard. Telenor Pakistan was formally amalgamated into Pak Telecom Mobile Limited, the legal name for Ufone, earlier this month after final approval by the Islamabad High Court, marking one of the largest telecom consolidations in the country’s history.
Sources in Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited confirmed that the name of the new merged company would be e&, signifying that the merged telecom entity falls under UAE based state owned company Etisalat. Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited had already written to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority seeking a new brand name for the merged company, while the telecom regulator responded that a notification from the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan was required regarding the names of the directors of the merged entity. Pakistan Telecommunication Authority also responded to a separate letter written by Pak Telecom Mobile Limited regarding registration of the new brand, directing the company that a notification from the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan was essential before proceeding.
An official of the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications explained that Ufone is a brand of Pak Telecom Mobile Limited, and since Telenor Pakistan has been amalgamated into it, there could be a change in the company’s directors, which would require formal notification from the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan regarding any change, or lack of change, on the board. A letter reviewed by Dawn showed that Pakistan Telecommunication Authority directed Pak Telecom Mobile Limited that the launch and advertising of any new brand could not proceed without this notification being issued first. Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited has already been bifurcated in line with a decision by the Competition Commission of Pakistan regarding the merger, separating the company and its other subsidiaries from the mobile telecommunications business entirely.
Under the current ownership structure, the government holds around a 62 percent stake in Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited, while 26 percent of shares along with management control are held by Abu Dhabi owned telecom giant Etisalat, which has recently rebranded globally as e&. The remaining 12 percent of shares are held by private investors through the Pakistan Stock Exchange. A senior official of the Ministry of Information Technology, however, told Dawn that assigning the brand name e& to the merged Ufone and Telenor company could face serious legal objections, since the entity would still technically remain a subsidiary of Pak Telecom Mobile Limited rather than a direct part of Etisalat’s corporate structure. The official added that this arrangement could amount to a copyright violation involving an international brand, or alternatively require the merged telecom company to pay a royalty fee to Etisalat, noting that Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited has already been paying profits to the UAE based company despite the group recording losses for an extended period.
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