Possibly to dispel the impression that they were delaying the case – Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has exposed that callous attitude of Pakistan Telecommunication Company ltd (PTCL) was the main hurdle for it’s merger with Telenor-Pakistan.
However, the CCP submitted two presentations to the Senate Standing Committee on IT& Telecom.One expressing formalities while the other presents the real picture – highlighting that the non-responsive attitude of the PTCL including lack of investment plan was delaying the finalisation of the merger application.
The presentation has added that the PTCL has not been able to run Ufone successfully, and the Ufone has been consistently in losses. ‘This fact necessitated the CCP to analyse the transaction in detail,’ it added.
The CCP has also said that the PTCL has a history of collusive practices and was abusing its dominant position in the upstream and downstream business segments of the telecom market, while the company has also challenged most of the PTA’s regulations in the Courts and obtained Stay Orders against the PTA determinations.
Abuse of dominance — The presentation has said that the PTCL is a dominant player in the telecom market, but in response to certain queries the accounts provided to CCP were in ‘highly technical format’ with multiple missing links.“PTCL abuses its dominant position,” the presentation said, adding that it has a history of collusive practices and gave the example that PTCL, along with 13 undertakings, were penalised for their involvement in an anti-competitive International Clearing House (ICH) agreement.
The CCP has said that therefore, it was imperative to ensure detailed scrutiny and the Commission wanted to rule out any preferential treatment to ensure level playing field.
The details of the presentation said that there is potential risk of cross-subsidisation between the Ufone and PTCL due to lack of non-compliance of the PTA’s directives.
The presentation has highlighted that the PTA has no check on the tariffs/rates charged by PTCL to different telecom operators because the determinations of the telecom regulator has been challenged in the courts by the PTCL.
The CCP has warned that the PTCL was issued LDI license and Ufone was issued CMO license but both have joint managements – ‘It creates competition concerns in relation to cross-subsidisation.
’PTCL and Telenor submitted their pre-merger application on March,6 2024, leading to a Phase I review by the CCP. While on May, 3 2024, the CCP initiated the Phase II review of the merger application, and the open-hearing of the case was held on September 30, 2024, however even after one year the PTCL has not provided complete information required by the Commission.The second hearing on 2nd October 2024, the third hearing on 3rd October 2024, the fourth hearing on 22nd October 2024, and the fifth hearing on 24th October 2024.Subsequently, the CCP conducted confidential hearings with PTCL officials, the first on 5th November 2024 to discuss efficiencies, and the second on 17th December 2024 to deliberate on conditions.
Meanwhile, on 1st October 2024, the CCP had sought information from PTCL regarding Regulatory Separated Accounts.
The information was eventually received on 25th February 2025. However, the submitted accounts were not decipherable, presented in a highly technical format, and contained multiple missing links, making them difficult to assess.
While, the PTCL had been floating off the record information to media that the Phase –II of the merger application should have been completed by December 2024, whereas even after 27 rounds of hearings the CCP has claimed that the PTCL has not provided the required information.
The last hearing was held on August, 26 2025, the PTCL provided information on its agreements with telecos and provided copies of its agreements with Zong, Jazz and Telenor-Pakistan.
However, the agreement with Ufone was not provided to the CCP. Impact of Merger on Telecom Sector.
The CCP presentation has said that mergers in the telecom sector hold immense strategic importance, driving economic growth, enhancing connectivity, and fostering technological innovation.
The CCP said that PTCL Transaction may generate efficiencies, consolidation will strengthen PTCL’s already dominant position and create a new, highly concentrated mobile market player (MergeCo).
The PTCL- Telenor transaction, however, raises serious competition concerns, the CCP has said pointed out the risk of Substantial Lessening of Competition (SLC).
The CCP also raised the concern that the merger could magnify entry barriers, reduce competitive pressures, and ultimately restrict consumer choice and innovation, and the promised gains/efficiencies from the merger may not be realised.
Regarding the current status of the merger case the CCP has said that it has three options – to reject the application, – approve the merger with certain conditions and the third condition was to approve the merger transaction on the condition that the PTCL enters into legally enforceable agreements specified by the competition commission in its order.
