Warid Telecom, a UAE-based cellular operator, has now become the talk of the town on a regular basis in the telecom industry as different market players have shown their keen interest, one after the another, to acquire its shares or to get it merged with them.
Telecom sources once again pointed out secret negotiations that have been carried out by the Warid management concurrently with Mobilink and Telenor, the two leading cellular companies operating in Pakistan, to carry out transition of its stakes partially or completely after getting the best offer.
While dealing with two players, Warid has improved its market worth to cash in on the rivals’ interest in the market. Earlier, it had held talks with China Mobile, the world’s biggest telecom company and parent organization of ZONG. Sources say that the Mobilink joined this race as the negotiations between Warid and Telenor have been dragging on and likely to end up with no result.
In April 2009, Telenor was ready to buy 63 percent shares of Warid against USD 1.3 billion to close the deal with other stakeholders, Abu Dhabi Group and Singtel, but it was delayed on issues of liabilities and property transaction. Warid’s management has been met formally by Mobilink recently to buy its shares which had been offered previously to Telenor. The move has been responded positively by Warid. Warid’s negotiations with interested parties had taken place at a high level in the presence of officials of the parent organizations of both Warid and Telenor i.e. Orsacam Telecom Holding and Telenor Group.
Warid now has the best opportunity to offer its shares with an increased value as the number of players that are interested in acquiring its shares has increased. Sources said that Telenor is more interested in Warid after the success of its Easypaisa project.
Nevertheless, the sales and marketing campaigns have witnessed acceleration in the last couple of months, which suggests that the present management is looking forward to continuing its operations despite loss of millions of subscribers. The ball is now in the court of Warid Telecom whether to sell out its shares to any one of the operators or maintain satus quo in the stiff competitive Pakistani market.
Analyst Viewpoint
Muhammad Yasir, senior telecom reporter, said that all the cellular operators are financially sound and backed by their parent organizations to acquire stakes partially or wholly in any other market player depending upon the business deals and market dynamics.
He said that the telecom operators’ business situation in terms of earning has not been very strong for of last couple of years and they have become quite successful in strategies to improve their revenue graph through multiple call packages and Value-Added Services (VAS).
However, the market will become conducive for operators to enhance their revenues as soon as the country’s economy takes upward swing despite stiff competition that will reamin part of the market dynamics.
The merger of any of the two operators in the market will not ease off the competition but it will strengthen the market dominance and revenue position of a certain operator that would be successful in clinching the deal, he added.
Source: Telecom Recorder
No comments:
Post a Comment