Pakistan s telecom sector has attracted another $291 million as Mobilink - the largest cellular company has clinched a deal with the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to renew its licence for the next 15 years, English language daily The News reported. The company, which was engaged in finalising the terms and conditions with the authorities, had been awarded renewed licence by the PTA after an initial installment of the licence fee. The Mobilink s licence was due to expire in July 2007 and its management had been holding talks with the PTA for the last couple of months to renew it for the next 15 years. Exact amount of the first installment of the licence fee has not been disclosed, but it is said to be more than $14 million, the report said. With the renewal of the licence, Mobilink had become the second cellular company, which got its licence renewed. Before that, Instaphone renewed its licence in 2005 for $291 million. The PTA in 2004 awarded two cellular licences to foreign companies (Telenor and Warid) at $291 million each in an open bidding, which was set as a benchmark for the cellular licence fee and incorporated in the Cellular Mobile Policy 2003. Out of the total six cellular operators in the country, licences to Instaphone, Paktel and Mobilink were awarded free of charge when they launched their services in the 90s. The PTA got a nominal Rs50 million from Ufone for a licence to operate till 2015. Paktel, however, acquired the licence for GSM (global system for mobile communications) operations in 2004 at $291 million. Mobilink which is the cellular arm of Egypt s Orascom Telecom has made long-term plans to invest in Pakistan s high-tech services and infrastructure. Mobilink has lately become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Orascom after Pakistan s Saif Group sold all its 11.31 per cent shares to the parent company at $290 million recently.
