The United Arab Emirates and Pakistan have finally closed the dispute between mobile operators Etisalat and Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) over a US$2.6bn deal in 2006, according to Pakistani newspaper the Express Tribune.
Six years…
The United Arab Emirates and Pakistan have finally closed the dispute between mobile operators Etisalat and Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) over a US$2.6bn deal in 2006, according to Pakistani newspaper the Express Tribune.
Six years ago, UAE-based Etisalat agreed to buy a 26% stake in PTCL for US$2.6bn but, as of February this year, only US$1.8bn had been transferred.
Mirza Ikhtiar Baig, an adviser to Pakistan’s prime minister, was quoted saying at the weekend that the country has accepted to forgo US$100m under the final settlement and will therefore receive US$700m from the UAE. No timeframe has been disclosed for this final payment.
Etisalat had reportedly withheld the US$800m remaining because some properties had not been transferred by Pakistan’s government to PTCL. There had also been disagreements between the two countries regarding the market price of those properties.