ISLAMABAD: Hatem Bamatraf, president and chief executive officer (CEO) Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) Group, on Friday, ruled out Ufone merger at the moment, but also set prerequisites for participation in 5G spectrum auction, which the government is planning latest by January 2023.
“The prerequisite for 5G success in the market is the amount of spectrum that will be released by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA),” said CEO and president of the PTCL Group, while replying to media queries.
The Group’s annual financial results for the year 2021 were also announced after the Board of Directors’ meeting.
“We will participate in the 5G spectrum auction. It all depends on the conditions of the auction. If the terms or conditions of the auction are somehow makes sense for us from business points of view then definitely off course we would like to be the most innovative company in this market and we will jump into the new technologies as long as it makes business case,” he added.
The CEO further said the prerequisites for participation in 5G are the amount of spectrum and all of the licence conditions and auction conditions. This will determine how many service providers participate on that.
PTA issues 4G licence to Ufone
Replying to another question about any possible merger of Ufone, he said that “all of these are rumours in the market and there is no such thing. The only thing that I would like to comment on, we are scouting the market. We are continuously looking for market and are there any assets any company that we believe, it will add value to the overall group then off course, yes, we would go after it, we would pursue it.
So we are continuously looking. At the moment, there is nothing that we are having it but this is a continuous process. We have a division that only looks precisely on merger and acquisition and its main focus areas including fixed side and mobile side as well as banking side, so across the group,” he added.
The president further said the revenue of PTCL grew by seven percent, which is the highest since 2013. Further, Ufone revenue grew by four percent despite stiff competition.
Nadeem Khan, chief financial officer PTCL Group sharing the financial results said the Group revenue increased by six percent from Rs129.422 billion in 2020 to Rs137.625 billion in 2021.
Group operating profit decreased by 10 percent year-on-year, mainly due to higher depreciation in Ufone on account of 4G spectrum acquisition and increase in energy prices. Group net profit declined by 21 percent mainly due to exchange loss at group level as a result of PKR devaluation.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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