PTCL

For other uses, see PTCL (disambiguation).

Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd., commonly known as PTCL (Urdu: مشارکتِ پاکستان برائے بعیدالمواصلات (المحدود)) is the national telecommunication company in Pakistan.^[1][4] PTCL provides telephone and internet services nationwide and is the backbone for the country's telecommunication infrastructure. The corporation manages and operates around 2000 telephone exchanges across the country, providing the largest fixed-line network. Data and backbone services such as GSM, HSPA+, CDMA, LTE, broadband internet, IPTV, and wholesale are an increasing part of its business.

Pakistan Telecommunicaton Company Limited (PTCL)

Native name	مشارکتِ پاکستان برائے بعیدالمواصلات (المحدود)
Company type	Public utility state-owned enterprise
Traded as	PSX: PTC
Industry	Telecommunications
Founded	14 August 1947 incorporated 1995^[1]
Headquarters	Islamabad , Pakistan
Key people	•Federal Secretary IT (Chairman Board) •Hatem Bamatraf (President and Group CEO)
Products	Fiber-optic Broadband Broadcasting Cable television Digital telephone HDTV Internet Pay television Mobile VoIP phone
Revenue	Rs. 96.26 billion (US$330 million)^[2] (2023)
Operating income	Rs. 13.90 billion (US$48 million)^[2] (2023)
Net income	Rs. 9.39 billion (US$33 million)^[2] (2023)
Total assets	Rs. 305.16 billion (US$1.1 billion)^[3] (2022)
Total equity	Rs. 108.05 billion (US$370 million)^[3] (2022)
Owner	Government of Pakistan (62%) Etisalat (26%) General public (12%)
Number of employees	15,392^[3]
Subsidiaries	Ufone
Website	www.ptcl.com.pk

Originally a state-owned corporation, the shareholding of PTCL was reduced to 62%, when 26% of shares and control were sold to Etisalat Telecommunications while the remaining 12% to the general public in 2006 under an intensified privatization program under Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. However, the 62% of shares still remain under the management of government-ownership of state-owned corporations of Pakistan.^[5]

Leadership

In May 2021, Etisalat by e& appointed Hatem Bamatraf as President and Group CEO of PTCL. Hatem previously served as the CTO of Etisalat.^[6][7]

History

Posts & Telegraph Department

From the beginning of the Posts & Telegraph Department in 1949 and establishment of Pakistan Telephone & Telegraph Department in 1962, PTCL has been a major player in telecommunication in Pakistan. ^[8]

Pakistan Telecommunication Corporation

Pakistan Telecommunication Corporation (PTC) took over operations and functions from Pakistan Telephone and Telegraph Department under Pakistan Telecommunication Corporation Act 1991. This coincided with the Government's competitive policy, encouraging private sector participation and resulting in the award of licenses for cellular, card-operated pay-phones, paging and, lately, data communication services.

Privatization Plan

Pursuing a progressive policy, the Government in 1991, announced its plans to privatize PTCL, and in 1994 issued six million vouchers exchangeable into 600 million shares of the would-be PTCL in two separate placements. Each had a par value of Rs. 10 per share. These vouchers were converted into PTCL shares in mid-1996.^[8]

Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited

On December 31, 1995, the Pakistan Telecommunication (Reorganization) Act, 1996, was passed, which formally reconstituted the Pakistan Telecommunication Corporation as PTCL.^[9] The act facilitated the transfer of the telecommunications business, along with its associated assets, rights, liabilities, and obligations, from the corporation to PTCL.^[9] However, certain exclusions were allocated to the National Telecommunication Corporation (NTC), Frequency Allocation Board (FAB), Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), and Pakistan Telecommunication Employees Trust (PTET).^[9]

As part of the reorganization process, the Government of Pakistan divested 26 percent of its PTCL shares through an initial public offering (IPO) at a strike price of PKR 30 and was subsequently listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) in 1996.^[10][11][12]

PTCL launched its mobile and data services subsidiaries in 2001 by the name of Ufone and PakNet respectively. None of the brands made it to the top slots in the respective competitions. Lately, however, Ufone had increased its market share in the cellular sector. The PakNet brand has effectively dissolved over a period of time. Recent DSL services launched by PTCL reflects this by the introduction of a new brand name and operation of the service being directly supervised by PTCL.

 

A shop of Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTCL) in Islamabad

As telecommunication monopolies head towards an imminent end, services and infrastructure providers are set to face even bigger challenges. The post-monopoly era came with Pakistan’s Liberalization in Telecommunication in January 2003. On the Government level, a comprehensive liberalization policy for the telecoms sector is in the offering.

In 2005, Government of Pakistan decided to sell 26 percent of the company to some private corporation. There were three participants in the bidding process for the privatization of PTCL. Etisalat, an Abu Dhabi company was able to get the shares with a large margin in the bid.^[13] In June 2005, Etisalat won the 26% of PTCL shares along with management control of the then telecom monopoly for US$2.6 billion. As of 2019, Etisalat has held back $800m amount over a property-transfer dispute with the Pakistani government.^[14]

The government's plan of privatizing the corporation was not welcomed in all circles; countrywide protests and strikes were held by PTCL workers. They disrupted phone lines of institutions like Punjab University Lahore along with other public sector institutions.^[15][16]

Financial and Operational performance

Year ended	Revenue (PKR million)	Operating income (PKR million)	Net income (PKR million)	Total assets (PKR million)	Total equity (PKR million)
31 December 2014^[17]	81,513	8,012	5,207	179,574	92,144
31 December 2015^[18]	75,752	13,272	8,760	180,378	86,218
31 December 2016^[19]	71,420	10,201	6,835	180,109	83,013
31 December 2017^[20]	69,757	12,845	8,350	186,158	84,952
31 December 2018^[21]	70,100	10,757	7,422	196,044	83,571
31 December 2019^[22]	71,548	9,331	6,347	209,994	87,751
31 December 2020^[23]	71,804	8,493	6,030	223,600	94,010
31 December 2021^[24]	76,853	9,682	6,874	245,735	99,653
31 December 2022^[25]	83,444	13,513	9,053	305,160	108,054
31 December 2023^[26]	96,266	13,905	9,390	TBD	TBD

Products

Voice

PTCL provides fixed-line telephone services across Pakistan.

Vfone network shutdown

Wireless voice services used to be provided through PTCL's CDMA2000 network, which was broadcast over the 1900 MHz WLL frequency under the 'Vfone' brand name, however, the network was shut down on 31 August 2016 nationwide to allow the spectrum to be re-farmed for PTCL's 'CharJi' LTE service.

Internet

PTCL offers three different types of fixed-line broadband across 2,000 cities* in Pakistan with plans ranging from 2 Mbit/s to 250 Mbit/s.^[27]

• ADSL2+ (with optional G.992.5 Annex M) - plans from 2 Mbit/s to 20 Mbit/s
• VDSL2 - plans from 2 Mbit/s to 100 Mbit/s
• Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) - branded by PTCL as FlashFiber - plans from 20 Mbit/s to 250 Mbit/s

*PTCL's FlashFiber is currently only offered in 70 cities.^[28]

Wireless

PTCL also offers TDD-LTE based Wireless Broadband under the 'CharJi' brand name with coverage in over 70 cities. Service is only available through their provided mobile hotspot device.^[29]

Ufone is also a wholly owned subsidiary of PTCL, it also the fourth and the smallest cellular provider in mainland Pakistan. It provides GSM, HSPA+ and LTE services over the 900, 1800 and 2100 MHz bands.

Television

In addition to voice and data services, PTCL also offers digital TV services based on DVB-IPTV under PTCL Smart TV brand name.^[30] PTCL users can also stream live TV using the Smart TV smartphone application.^[31]

Anti-competitive practices

PTCL has been involved in anti-competitive practices several times in the recent years, particularly in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

In 2006, PTCL terminated Nayatel's E1 link at their colocation facility despite Nayatel fulfilling all the requirements as per their interconnect agreement.^[32]

In November 2010, LINKdotNET (part of Mobilink, now Jazz) and Micronet Broadband in a complaint to PTA, accused PTCL of charging excessively high prices for bandwidth to other ISPs, whilst subsidizing its own DSL tariffs.^[33][34]

Again in 2016, PTCL and Bahria Town were both involved in preventing other ISPs from laying fiber infrastructure in, effectively giving PTCL a monopoly for voice, data and TV in Bahria Town.^[35] The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) issued a show-cause notice to Bahria Town for abusing its dominant position. After the case was heard, a fine of 2 million PKR was imposed on Bahria Town and CCP ordered them to allow Nayatel and any other potential entrants to lay their fiber infrastructure, allowing healthy competition in the ISP sector.^[36]

On 14th February 2024, Nayatel submitted a complaint with PTA alleging that PTCL was actively blocking Nayatel IP addresses as Nayatel terminated their bandwidth agreement directly with PTCL due to price gouging. Nayatel instead opted to purchase PTCL bandwidth through Telenor Pakistan and Zong CMPak who were authorized by PTA to resell to other licensees, as this was more cost effective for Nayatel. However, PTCL refused to allow Nayatel's traffic to pass through its network since the bandwidth was purchased through a reseller.^[37][38]

Phone number format change

PTCL had started with 10 digit numbers for landline telephones. The first three (in case of smaller cities, 4 or 5) signified the area code (e.g. 042 for Lahore) and the rest (7 for large cities, 6 or 5 for smaller ones) were the subscribers number. Due to the large demand for landlines in Lahore and Karachi, in 2009, PTCL decided to increase the 7-digit subscriber numbers to 8-digits, adding "9" before existing Government numbers and "3" before the others (e.g. the number 042-7878787 before 2009, was changed to 042-37878787).^[39]

5G trials

PTCL successfully carried out 5G trials in February 2021 and achieved download speeds up to 1.7 Gbps in their testing environment.^[40]

Acquisition of Telenor Pakistan

After Telenor ASA announced in November 2022 that they would leave the Pakistani market,^[41] the sale of Telenor Pakistan to PTCL was announced in December 2023. Subject to regulatory approvals, PTCL will acquire a 100% stake in Telenor Pakistan for US$493 million.^[42][43]

See also

• List of dialling codes of Pakistan
• Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication
• Telephone numbers in Pakistan
• Ufone - A wholly owned cellular subsidiary of PTCL

References

1. [1] Company Profile of Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) on Financial Times (UK newspaper), Retrieved 9 December 2017
2. "PTCL Financial Results Report 2023" (PDF). www.ptcl.com.pk.
3. "PTCL Annual Report 2022" (PDF). www.ptcl.com.pk.
4. PTCL and Netflix sign collaboration agreement Dawn (newspaper), Updated 31 October 2016, Retrieved 9 December 2017
5. "'Etisalat eager to resolve $800m payment issue'". Dawn.
6. Ahmed, Ali (24 May 2021). "PTCL appoints Hatem Bamatraf as Chief Executive". Brecorder. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
7. "About PTCL". ptcl.com.pk. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
8. TLTP (29 July 2020). "Telecom infrastructure ready to support 5G networks: PTA chief". Profit by Pakistan Today. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
9. "PTCL: PAKISTAN TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANY LIMITED - Analysis of Financial Statements Financial Year 2005-3Q'10". Brecorder. 20 August 2010.
10. "Pakistan gears up for major IPO since 1996". gulfnews.com. 9 October 2003.
11. "Let market forces determine strike price". Business Recorder.
12. "MEED | PAKISTAN: Investors go for PTC".
13. "Pakistan takes Etisalat's $2.59 billion PTCL bid" The Indian Express (newspaper), Published 21 June 2005, Retrieved 9 December 2017
14. "Privatisation gone sour: Govt signed agreement to transfer PTCL properties 'which don't exist'". Dawn. 2 January 2019.
15. "KARACHI: PTCL workers on strike against privatization". DAWN.COM. 26 May 2005. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
16. "Hundreds of striking telecom workers detained". gulfnews.com. 14 June 2005. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
17. "PTCL Annual Report 2014" (PDF). PTCL. 31 December 2014. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
18. "PTCL Annual Report 2015" (PDF). PTCL. 31 December 2015. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
19. "PTCL Annual Report 2016" (PDF). PTCL. 31 December 2016. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
20. "PTCL Annual Report 2017" (PDF). PTCL. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
21. "PTCL Annual Report 2018" (PDF). PTCL. 31 December 2018. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
22. "PTCL Annual Report 2019" (PDF). PTCL. 31 December 2019. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
23. "PTCL Annual Report 2020" (PDF). PTCL. 31 December 2020. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
24. "PTCL Annual Report 2021" (PDF). PTCL. 31 December 2021. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
25. "PTCL Annual Report 2022" (PDF). PTCL. 31 December 2022. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
26. "PTCL Financial Results 2023" (PDF). PTCL. 13 February 2024. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
27. "Unlimited Internet Packages | Internet Bundles". ptcl.com.pk. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
28. "Coverage - PTCL Flash Fiber". PTCL Flash Fiber. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
29. "Coverage - PTCL CharJi". PTCL CharJi EVO. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
30. "Better than Cable - PTCL Smart TV". www.ptcl.com.pk. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
31. "Smart TV App". www.ptcl.com.pk. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
32. "Claim under the Interconnection Dispute Resolution Regulations" (PDF). Pakistan Telecommunication Authority. 6 March 2007. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
33. "Determination on Anti-Competitive Practices of PTCL in the Broadband Market" (PDF). ISPAK. 18 November 2011. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
34. Hassan, Taimoor (10 March 2024). "Is PTCL throttling one of its competitors through anticompetitive practices?". Profit by Pakistan Today. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
35. "CCP issues show-cause notice to Bahria Town for abuse of dominance". The Nation. 4 August 2016. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
36. "Competition Commission imposes Rs 2m fine on Bahria Town". Profit by Pakistan Today. 7 February 2017. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
37. Gardezi, Ahsan (20 February 2024). "PTA Asks Nayatel, PTCL, Zong and Telenor to Resolve Bandwidth Dispute Within 3 Days". ProPakistani. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
38. Siraj, Wahaj (21 February 2024). "Might tries to be right, Internet is no exception". www.linkedin.com. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
39. "PTCL shifts numbers from 7 to 8 digit series". The Nation (newspaper). 25 June 2009. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
40. "PTCL Group conducts successful 5G trials". Profit by Pakistan Today. 11 February 2021. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
41. Nair, Dinesh; Chan, Vinicy; Baigorri, Manuel (9 November 2022). "Telenor Kicks Off Sale of $1 Billion Pakistan Business". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 14 December 2023. Telenor ASA is pushing ahead with plans to sell its operations in Pakistan, which could be valued at about $1 billion, people familiar with the matter said.
42. Sadozai, Dawn com | Irfan (14 December 2023). "PTCL to acquire Telenor's Pakistan operations". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
43. Mjaaland, Ola (14 December 2023). "Telenor selger datterselskap i Pakistan for 5,3 mrd: – 18 vellykkede år" [Telenor sells daughter company in Pakistan for 5,3 billion [NOK]: – 18 successful years]. NRK/NTB (in Norwegian Bokmål). Archived from the original on 14 December 2023. Retrieved 14 December 2023. Det er klart at det har vært krevende 18 år, ingen tvil om det. Men på den andre siden har vi gitt 45 millioner mennesker en mobiltelefon. Vi har også greid å bygge en kultur som har gjort at vi har blitt lagt merke til. [...] [Brekke] nevner blant annet at selskapet innførte svangerskapspermisjon 6 måneder som den første noen gang i dette markedet, og at ingen andre selskaper i Pakistan har så mange kvinner som jobber hos seg. [It clearly has been 18 demanding years, no doubt about that. But on the other hand we have given 45 million people a mobile phone. We have managed to create a culture which has caused us to be noticed. [...] Brekke mentions among other things that the company was the first in the [Pakistani] market to implement a 6 month maternity leave, and that no other company in Pakistan employs as many women as them.]

External links

• PTCL official website