Yesterday Mobilink and Warid announced that they have agreed to merge both companies to become one company within few months from today. CEOs of both companies held a press conference in Lahore, where they explained to the media about the ins and outs of the entire deal.
Here we have compiled all the information for our readers at one place, so they get to know about all the available details about the deal:
Mobilink-Warid Merger:
- Phase 1
- Mobilink will acquire 100% shares of Warid.
- Dhabi Group will get 15% shares of Mobilink.
- There’s no cash transaction involved, just the shares will be swapped
- This process may take up to six months from yesterday and is subject to regulatory approvals.
- Till this phase is completed, both companies will continue to work separately as they were.
- During phase 1, planning and strategy for the merged company will be devised. All parties will get involved to lay down a plan on how to merge the companies. We are assuming that majority of planing and strategy work has already been done, but it won’t get public until this phase 1 completed.
- Phase 2
- In phase two, after the completion of phase 1, Warid and Mobilink will merge into one company.
- This will take another six months to close and will require regulatory approvals.
- After this, there will be one company as an outcome.
- At this point, shifting of offices, consolidation of franchisees, retailers, and various organizational functions and employees will occur.
- This single merged company may carry the name of Mobilink or may adopt any new brand name.
- This single company will have single support operations, single sales and distribution network, one single PR agency and so on.
- Phase 3
- After a lock-in period of 4 years, Dhabi Group will be allowed to sell its 15% stakes at fair market value.
- VimpelCom will have first rights to these 15% shares, however, they may offer Dhabi Group to sell these shares to anyone else.
- Governance:
- The Board of the merged company will be composed of 7 directors of which 6 will be nominated by VimpelCom; while Dhabi Group can appoint 1 director.
- Resolutions of the Board, in general, shall be decided by majority vote, except for certain limited reserved matters.
- Jeffrey Hedberg will be the CEO of merged company.
- Andrew Kemp will be the CFO of merged company.
- Impact on Employees:
- It is now clear that certain, but yet unknown, number of employees from both companies will be removed from the merged company. Management said that employees, franchises, retailers and all other resources will be retained on need, performance, and skill-set basis.
- Value Creation through Merger
- USD 115 million annual run-rate cost synergies, 90% expected by third year post-closing; in excess of USD 500 million NPV cost synergies expected, net of integration costs.
- Distributions projected within the first two years post-closing.
- Leverage: Mobilink 1.8x Net debt/EBITDA at signing.
- Pro forma revenue and EBITDA margin of USD 1.4 billion and above 40% respectively.
- Impact on Customers:
- Current Warid and Current Mobilink customers will start using one single network, one helpline and same services.
- Customers of merged company will be offered compound services of both Warid and Mobilink, including 2G, 3G, 4G, MobiCash.
- Customers will be allowed to retain their current numbers
Merged company in numbers:
- Combined footprint and customer base of 45 million with 37.6% market share (w.r.t Sep 2015 data)
- Total number of Towers: 13,000
- Current Mobilink Towers: 8,000
- Current Warid Towers: 5,000
- Towers to be decommissioned: 3,000 to 4,000
- Towers after decommissioning: 9,000 to 10,000
- 3G Towers: 3,600
- 4G LTE Towers: 1,000
- Financials:
- Current Mobilink Revenues for 12 Months till Sep 2015: USD 1 Billion
- Current Warid Revenues for 12 Months till Sep 2015: USD 357 Million
- pro forma revenues for 12 months till Sep 2015: 1.36 billion
- Net Debt Position as of Sep 2015:
- Mobilink: USD 380 Million
- Warid: USD 470 Million
- Pro Forma: USD 850 Million
- Enlarged and improved mobile network with over 80% population coverage (2G)
- Largest network, with almost 5,000 3G and 4G/LTE sites
For further reading:
- Official: Mobilink and Warid Merge into One Company
- Transcript of Press Conference by Mobilink-Warid CEOs on Merger
Great compilation.,
Company will have new name… Mobilink + Warid = MoboRid or WaLink :D
“Mobilink” will be the name of new company. They wouldn’t want to throw away the “brand name”. Apparently, we can call it demise of Warid.
It’s being called merger, not acquisition, to avoid legal/govt issues. Dhabi group will be out of this partnership in four years.
MobiWar… Ooooops
It’s name should be 4glinks ;) :D
Aamir Bhai Please Ye Confirm Kar Dain Warid or Mobilink No Par Calls Kab Tak Onnet Calls Shumar Ho G
after completion of phase 2
Phase 2 means after 6 months or 12 months?
12
Warid NE Double Faida Offer Or Rawalpindi Islamabad Offer Istarha Khatam Kiay Thay Jesi Mobilink Or Warid New Year Ki Block Bolsters Offer Launch Kary Waly Hain
AAMiR Bhai 4 yers kab mukamal hon gy jin k baad Mobilink apny 15 % purchase kr saky ge warid say ? Aor complete ownership Veon k pas chali jay ge ?
Aon Bhai licenses renew krwany k bary mein koi update ?
the name may be Mobilink Warid
super info, gr8 work, thank you amir bhai ..
Great Work by ProPakistan —
Mehnti Bachay rakhay hain Pro Pakistani nay
Good work done Aamir.
great but what about 4G lte of warid spped to bht km hai
You should get accustomed to call it mobilink 4g now ;)
aamir bhai is baat ka jwab lazimi den kia apko lgta hai k ufone b warid ko follow kerty huy zong mein merge ho jayega.q k ufone k customers jo tazi se kam ho rahy hn.
abhi tu aisi koi discussion nahi chal rahi. Future ka tu Allah hi janta hay
Just One Question! Khirdi Kitni Ki? :D
they didn’t make the value of both companies public.
Hmm.. meaning that it’ll still take quite some time before we get to use both 3g/4g services on mobilink….
But the main worry here is the quality of network which might be a bit worse in terms of call quality , network speed etc.(for warid users)
Its high time for Zong to spread its 4G network as far as possible to capture 4G market because untill completion of 1 year phase it prety much seems that no new lte towers will be added by warid.
Excellent report. To the point and well researched. Great job.
was he alone or LDI were with him the main beneficiary ? need full justice
Thanks for the Info. :)
Dear @aamir7 Do you think it is possible to provide 45 Million customer lte services on warid’s existing 8.8 MHz spectrum of 1800 MHz block?
And what is your take on Telenor’s 43% shares in VimpelCom?
that’s obviously not possible practically.
Telenor is divesting its stakes in VimpelCom.
@aamir7 than it will also not possible to provide 3G services to 45 Million customers on Mobilink’s 10 MHz spectrum from 2100 MHz block??
And it will be tough if they fail to get next aunctionable 4G License.
Brother! Do all the 45 Million customers use 3G or 4G? Not at all! There are only a few LTE customers as compared to 3G.
Hello Aamir bhai, I have a question.
Can you please tell me if there is any news on when ajk and gb would be able to enjoy 3g or 4g services? thanks
No idea sir..
Can you do some research over it and maybe have a post about it with furthur updates? Almost all of the main cities like gilgit mirpir bagh kotli rawalakot and Muzaffarabad are waiting anxiously.
Would be helpful and grateful.
Thanks
Try this link for information on this: https://goo.gl/1gp8wT
Aamir Sb what do you see in Dhabi group’s future? Are they slowly pulling out of Pakistan ?
Great… Good one from you admin…
Waiting for 3g 4g on warid…
All info at one place. Thanks :)
Excellent work Aamir Bhai :)
So this mean after 1 year there will be no Warid … new company will get all of existing warid assets including GSM 900/1800 spectrum. After this the volume of customer is 45 million.
Mighty lay off of employees in respect of Big Giant.
Network infrastruture will be changed.
Total 1800 MHz Spectrum =18 MHz
Total 900 MHz Spectrum = 20 MHz
3G 2100 Spectrum = 10 MHz
LTE refarmed spectrum = 5 MHz
Announcement of new financial statements
Question is : kaya humein is merger sy koi faida hoga??
Aamir Bhai apke pass koi jawab hai
Yep! Warid customer will get 3G also, and 4G speed will get improved :D
How will 4g speed improve? Wont the load just increase three-fold on the network??? As mobilink will be the super giant network of pakistan…..
It seems impossible, but it can be made feasible. Look at Telenor, which has only 5Mhz , but can provide good 3G speed to the large number of customers (32Million). Mobilink has 10 Mhz 3G spectrum (34.6 Million customer), if we add 10 Million customer to Mobilink it would become 45 Million..10 Mhz spectrum can handle…but 4G speed will really slow. Sorry I was mistaken! It is my opinion, it could be wrong!
Warid currently have 8.8 Mhz of 4g spectrum. So maybe if mobilink put their back in it, 4g network might even perform better than before ;) But, in a country which uses rail tracks originally deployed during british rule! I think i can safely presume they wont focus so much on it.
Right..!! Moblink has to set 1Gbps connection har tower main :P to overcome the Masla :P
Sidha sidha bolo we’re screwed and its never gonna be as fast as it currently is XD
AHAHAH..!!
:P
what about call quality?
Aamir Bhai, so sorry but I dont think there would be any improvement in 4G speed but I doubt call quality will also go down…
No , cal quality wont be affected much… as warid’s 2g badwidth will also be added to mobilink’s 2g band and there is gonna be quite a lot of towers .
It sounds like an acquisition in all but name. Mobilink is purchasing Warid but the story being spun in the media is “merger”.
Exactly!
New company name will be Mobilink
All call rates and packages will be according to mobilink packages (with small changes maybe)
They are just trying to retain loyal warid customers by confusing this merger. They should clearly state that Dhabi group sold warid for 15% shares in Mobilink. That’s it!
Haha warid customers aren’t fools they can understand this stuff XD
just like i have understood this!
we can hope for better 3g & 4g services now, as warid was only working in limited big cities (with respect to 3g & 4g)
We need more mobile operators in Pakistan after this merger.
Please Govt launch a new auction to provide these companies
Vodaphone (UK) 2nd
Turkcel (Turkey) 26th
Orange (France) 11th
and MegaPhone (Russia) 27th
Its time for Some Good News
TurkCell
Telefonica
Orange
Vodaphone
Dear Badar, you are right and this is really very important to have new players in Pakistan …. other wise I am afraid for monopoly of Mobilink in Pakistan……
Sure
Only Kingdom of two big players Mobilink and Zong
And the employees got fished, as always.
Agreed !!!
Unemployment …..
Kyaa Warid Number ka code Change ho jay ga..
Dhabi Group sold Pakistan favourite network for only 15% shares in VimpelCom lol.
Sad news for warid loyal customers
What will be the future of Ericsson ? Warid has end to end Ericsson equipment and MS is looked after by Ericsson employees ?
finally the financial disclosed that the warid was at the edge of drowning…the same happened with wateen and they shed off lots of employees every quarter, now a lot of unemployment will increase too….sheikhs actually handed over their debt which was more than their Net earnings per year…what a disaster of warid:(
US telecom companies like T-mobile,AT&T,Verizon should come to Pakistan.
(WARID+TELENOR) MOBilink VS Zong & Ufone
Waow
plz do confirm me… what about the fate of Warid Numbers ported to other networks???
i.e: i have Warid number ported to Telenor…
0321-64xxxxx
its ported to Telenor Pk…
will it be eligible to deport to newly Parent network (Warid/Mobilink)???
Nice piece of information
Will cell numbers prefix change?
Nope
Dono he baqwaas networks hain
why why why ?? what are the causes of warid and mobilink merger ?
is there any inefficiency of warid that cause merger???
or warid is in loss ?
Well its good news, but kindly Mobilink should start 3 G services in District Malakand