Zong CEO Signals another Possible Merger in the Country’s Vibrant Telecom Sector

No doubt, the telecom sector witnessed some mergers and divorces in 2015 which were finally approved and confirmed in 2016 both internationally and in the Pakistani sector as well. Warid-Mobilink is one successful case as Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) recently approved its merger. The story doesn’t end here, there can be more mergers, acquisitions etc. in coming days as Zong CEO Liu Dianfeng also hinted about another possible merger in the country’s vibrant telecom sector as he recently said to Express Tribune that as far as the telecom sector of Pakistan is concerned, there can be only three mobile operators in the country.

Sharing his views on the future plans of  China Mobile Pakistan Limited’s (Zong), the CEO said that:

“It was difficult to generate profits in Pakistan given the size of the market and number of players. It is difficult to make profits in Pakistan’s market and the return on investments comes in different outlines.”

While elaborating the same point, the CEO Liu hinted out that:

“Maybe, in the future, we can think of buying an operator.”

Zong the third largest mobile operator in the Pakistan which is currently enduring low margins and is burdened by heavy taxation like all other CMOs, the company claims.
Liu said the parent company’s investment $3 billion, which includes $1 billion for 3G and 4G spectrum licences in 2014, has still not managed to turn things around.
Earlier this year, the company also announced another $400 million investment to upgrade its existing infrastructure, thereby adding more 3

Mr. Liu also said that:

“By 2017, they have plans to further increase its data share up to 30%. “Though the data traffic model in Pakistan is slow but we must push this, no one can ignore the internet, it is a business for us and we must accept this. No one knows what is going to happen, but we do know that our data revenues will continue to rise.”

All these statements from the CEO indicates that the telecom sector of Pakistan is soon going to face another change. Let’s see what surprising thing comes next.