Warid Seeks for Buyers in Pakistan: Report

Warid-LogoWarid Telecom, fully owned telecom operator of Dhabi Group of UAE, is still seeking for buyers in Pakistani market, reported reuters citing at least three sources without naming them.

Report, while quoting unnamed sources, said that China Mobile or Etisalat owned PTCL could be the interested buyers.

Reuters said that U.S. investment bank Lazard and British lender Standard Chartered have been mandated to evaluate the deal, which can potentially get Dhabi Group as high as USD 1 billion for 100 percent sell out of Warid.

PTCL’s Walid Irshad didn’t rule out the buy-out by saying that his group is interested to see if Warid makes sense for them. “But it’s not only us. Warid is an existing operator that has been here for many years and so we’re saying ‘let’s look at the prospects”, he commented.

This is not the first time that Warid is up for sale. Previously in 2009, Dhabi Group did intensive talks with Telenor Group of Norway for the sell-out but negotiations ended without any conclusion due to price difference.

Dhabi Group again hinted for a sell-out of Warid in January 2013 when it bought back 30 percent stakes from Singtel of Singapore. The deal had a clause which said that Singtel will receive a 7.5% share of proceeds from any future sale or public offering of Warid.

Buying Warid can be a good idea for China Mobile – the number four operator in Pakistan with 19 million customers – especially when new customer acquisitions have become harder, thanks to tighter regulatory measures for selling new SIMs and increasing tele-density.

China Mobile, with tons of cash reserves, is long trying to expand its international business in Pakistan and other regional markets.

Pakistani operators are eyeing upcoming 3G spectrum auction to boost the level of currently struggling ARPUs. Higher customer base means better chances of return on pre-3G customer acquisition investments.

It merits mentioning here that Warid Telecom is largely known for loyal customer base and strong network infrastructure, though with limited coverage.

Tech and telecom reporter for over 15 years


  • Its all because of our government policies, they sucks everyday our economy going down day by day. nobody want to invest in our country because of corruption.i think our government not serious about business policies they interested to borrow from IMF

  • China Mobile should stay away from the crap of Warid. Everybody knows about the corruption of ex Management at Warid and what is the point of buying the company coming last and the biggest loser company. Warid and Telenor started at almost same time and Telenor has become number 2 and going for number 1 and Warid has been crossed even by Zong.

    China Mobile must not get into this temptation. Rather than this, they should spend on strong 4G network and if they have to buy then buy Mobilink because Mobilink and Telenor have same owners and I think Mobilink will be sold off.

    • but reality is that waird’s service is best among all…..no one can match thier qaulity

    • Junaid I think you are talking about numbers, right ? yes Warid has less numbers but its the company which has the most satisfied customer base and less numbers are because of a less coverage as compare to Telenor and Zong now one cant escape from the fact that the company is known for its Quality of Services, the transparency and Customer Care which rest of 4 miss.

      I am using Warid from last almost 7 years and had never an issue. Its really royal service I must say.

  • “tighter regulatory measures for selling new SIMs and increasing tele-density.”

    this tighter regulatory is just a joke , Ufone is distributing and activating sims like crazy these days , they have directed their staff members to go out in field and distribute sims for free … can you believe a single person shift box of 1500 sims in few hours .. all that finger print record etc etc is just topi drama from PTA

  • I have used all the sim’s and warid’s service is best for sure. I suspect it’s because they have only one vendor i-e ericsson in all the areas. I think neither CM PAK nor etisilat should buy warid instead there should be a owner like vodafone for example. This can create great competition and will be good for the comsumers

  • Oh no… Another management change expected in Warid.. as always when ever these amours about Warid hit the market a huge management change is in the air.

    Any way this time it may be true this time as I know from reliable that one consultant who was working with Warid Telecom technical from a long period has been contacted by one of the two operators to join for evaluating certain aspects of the information of Warid deal. However I am not sure if he agreed or not.


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