AIRLINK 170.57 Decreased By ▼ -2.58 (-1.49%)
BOP 11.18 Increased By ▲ 0.53 (4.98%)
CNERGY 8.41 Decreased By ▼ -0.11 (-1.29%)
CPHL 99.73 Increased By ▲ 2.27 (2.33%)
FCCL 46.60 Decreased By ▼ -0.65 (-1.38%)
FFL 15.15 Decreased By ▼ -0.27 (-1.75%)
FLYNG 27.55 Decreased By ▼ -0.58 (-2.06%)
HUBC 137.78 Decreased By ▼ -1.13 (-0.81%)
HUMNL 12.92 Increased By ▲ 0.11 (0.86%)
KEL 4.54 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
KOSM 5.36 Decreased By ▼ -0.19 (-3.42%)
MLCF 62.40 Increased By ▲ 0.14 (0.22%)
OGDC 212.16 Decreased By ▼ -2.59 (-1.21%)
PACE 5.42 Decreased By ▼ -0.13 (-2.34%)
PAEL 47.18 Increased By ▲ 2.32 (5.17%)
PIAHCLA 18.48 Decreased By ▼ -0.22 (-1.18%)
PIBTL 10.36 Decreased By ▼ -0.38 (-3.54%)
POWER 12.33 Increased By ▲ 0.07 (0.57%)
PPL 169.60 Decreased By ▼ -4.27 (-2.46%)
PRL 35.85 Decreased By ▼ -0.37 (-1.02%)
PTC 23.09 Decreased By ▼ -0.47 (-1.99%)
SEARL 96.26 Increased By ▲ 0.95 (1%)
SSGC 39.52 Increased By ▲ 0.39 (1%)
SYM 13.84 Decreased By ▼ -0.18 (-1.28%)
TELE 7.15 Decreased By ▼ -0.08 (-1.11%)
TPLP 10.03 Decreased By ▼ -0.26 (-2.53%)
TRG 63.48 Decreased By ▼ -1.20 (-1.86%)
WAVESAPP 9.99 Decreased By ▼ -0.05 (-0.5%)
WTL 1.31 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-1.5%)
YOUW 3.66 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-1.08%)
BR100 12,305 Decreased By -186.6 (-1.49%)
BR30 37,415 Decreased By -278.7 (-0.74%)
KSE100 114,853 Decreased By -1335.9 (-1.15%)
KSE30 35,217 Decreased By -533.1 (-1.49%)

KARACHI: Pakistan’s largest conglomerate Engro Corp, through its strategic partnership with Veon, is eyeing expanding telecom tower-sharing coverage in Pakistan and exploring different use cases in telecom infrastructure.

“Pakistan is a very large market in terms of telecom, which keeps growing larger,” Samad Dawood, vice chairman of Dawood Hercules Corp, which owns 40% of Engro Corp, told Reuters.

“This infrastructure business, with scale, allows us to utilize telecom infrastructure better in Pakistan and eventually also serve international markets as well,” said Dawood, identifying countries from “the Atlantic coast of Morocco to Central Asian states” as potential markets.

Jazz, VEON and Engro Connect announce strategic partnership

Engro and Dutch telecommunication and digital services company Veon announced last week plans to pool and manage their infrastructure assets in Pakistan.

The companies plan expanding tower-sharing coverage to other operators and looking into to other use cases, which could include electronic vehicle charging and drone landing.

Under the partnership, Engro will pay Jazz, Veon’s digital operator in Pakistan, $188 million and guarantee the repayment of Deodar’s intercompany debt of $375 million.

This remains subject to corporate and regulatory approvals. Deodar, under Veon, has a total tower count of 10,500 in Pakistan, while Engro’s existing tower count under Engro Enfrashare is 4,063 towers according to Topline Securities.

Earlier this year, Engro’s Dawood said restructuring would allow the firm to tap into broader economic opportunities, citing a challenging macroeconomic environment as a reason for the company’s restructuring.

Pakistan is navigating a challenging economic recovery path, having completed a $3 billion IMF bailout in April and now undertaking a $7 billion, 37-month bailout, approved in September, to ensure macroeconomic stability.

However, Dawood now says that things have changed, which have led to Engro’s largest transaction in Pakistani rupee terms.

“The actions taken in Pakistan over the last few quarters, along with hard decisions for macroeconomic stability, have led to this deal,” he said, adding that interest rates and inflation falling, combined with Pakistan’s ongoing IMF programme, have also helped.“

Pakistan slashed interest rates to 15% in November from a record high of 22% earlier this year.

Inflation has slowed down to 4.9% in November, from a multi-decade high of almost 40% in 2023.

“The incoming macro stability and IMF’s seal of approval has a huge impact on foreign financiers to look at Pakistan as an invest-able market,” Dawood said.

Comments

200 characters