April 8, 2006	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 9, 1427

ISLAMABAD, April 7: The completion of formal handing over of the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) management to Etisalat is targeted for April 12, 2006. Pursuant to the share purchase agreement (SPA) signed with Etisalat International Pakistan on March 12, the initial payment of $1.4 billion has been remitted in full.

According to a handout issued here on Friday, Etisalat made an offer at per share bid price of $1.96. In rupees terms, the total value of $1.326 billion (26 per cent) shares comes to Rs155.158 billion at a rate of Rs117.01 per share. Thus, the total value of the company was placed at Rs596.76 billion.

PTCL is the leading provider of basic telephone services to the private sector in Pakistan, with over 4.4 million telephone lines in service. Besides providing fixed line and ancillary services, PTCL owns Pakistan Telecommunication Mobile Limited, one of the five GSM cellular providers in Pakistan, and Paknet, a countrywide internet service provider.

The cabinet had already given its approval for the sale of PTCL as an integrated entity in August 2000. The government has 88 per cent shares in the company and after the sale of 26 per cent shares the government would retain 62 per cent share in the company.