LAHORE, Dec 4: Wateen Telecom and Qubee, two of the five wireless broadband firms operating in the country, plan to merge their businesses and invest more than $25 million to improve and expand coverage of the combined network.

According to an announcement issued on Wednesday, Abu Dhabi Group, the majority shareholder of Wateen Telecom, and New Silk Route Private Equity (PE) Asia Fund, the majority shareholder of Qubee/Augere, have announced their intention to combine their wireless broadband businesses in Pakistan.

The deal will see Wateen and Qubee forming the second largest broadband service provider in the country after Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), with over 200,000 subscribers and 22-24pc market share, a Wateen Telecom official told Dawn.

The transaction is subject to the requisite corporate, regulatory and governmental approvals and is targeted to be completed within the first half of year 2014.

Under the agreement, New Silk Route will hold majority shares (51 per cent) of the new company and Abu Dhabi Group minority shares (49pc).

“The new company will be a joint venture between the two companies and Wateen will transfer all its subscribers to New Silk Route, which will form the new company,” the Wateen official said.

He said that another wireless broadband operator, Mobilink, has already transferred its subscribers to New Silk Route.

At present, Wateen Telecom is the second largest wireless broadband operator in Pakistan followed by Wi-tribe, Qubee and Mobilink.

“With the formation of the new business, Wateen and Qubee intend to reenergise the wireless broadband market with planned investments,” the announcement said.

“The network upgrade will make it the best high speed broadband network with the phased upgrade to 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) technology that will contribute to a broadband revolution in Pakistan and significantly enhance its position in the new digital economy. The new business also intends to make investments available to introduce innovative value added services and devices to improve broadband penetration in Pakistan,” it said.

Wateen Telecom CEO Naeem Zamindar said, “We are confident that the formation of the new broadband business will usher in a new era of collaboration for the broadband industry and leap-frog the challenges in its aim to provide access to high-speed 4G data, seamless connectivity and cutting edge digital services for the people of Pakistan.”

Augere (Qubee) CEO in Pakistan Jamal Nasir Khan said, “We are delighted to announce the formation of this new stronger broadband business in Pakistan. We believe that the combined business will be able to better serve customers by providing high capacity affordable broadband connections which will drive up penetration in Pakistan, allowing an ever larger number of people to join the digital community with super-fast access to the internet.”