Etisalat, the telecom giant of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Saturday won the bidding for 26 percent of shares of the state-owned Pakistan Telecommunication Limited (PTCL) by offering 2.598 billion US dollars with management control.

Etisalat offered the highest bid with 1.96 dollars per share, China Mobile of China was the second highest bidder by offering 1. 063 dollars and SingTel of Singapore offered 0.88 dollar at a bidding ceremony held in Islamabad by the Pakistani Privatization Commission.

The three companies were declared pre-qualified bidders after they deposited their earnest money of 40 million dollars each with the commission as of June 16, 2005.

The other major companies including Telekom Malaysia Bhd, Kuwait's Telecommunications Company, Saudi Oger Limited, Saudi Telecom and Turkcell did not take part in the bidding Saturday.

The Cabinet Committee on Privatization will meet Monday to give its final decision on the offer. If approved, the winning bidder would have to make first payment within 15 days with complete payment in two months, Privatization Minister Hafeez Shaikh said after the bidding.

Minister for Information Technology Owais Leghari described the bidding as "historic," saying it would further boost the country's growing economy.

The bidding, originally planned for June 10, had to be extended by a week after talks between the government and representatives of the PTCL's workers union, which was leading a protest against the sale, failed to end the deadlock over the company's privatization.

The government finally reached an agreement with the union through assuring minimum two-year job security, clearing the main hurdle in the privatization process.

PTCL, which has 65,000 employees throughout the country, is the leading provider of basic telephone services to the private sector in Pakistan with over 4.9 million fixed lines in service in December.

Besides providing fixed line and ancillary services, PTCL owns Pakistan Telecommunication Mobile Limited, one of the five GSM cellular providers in Pakistan, and Paknet, a countrywide internet service provider.

PTCL has been earmarked for sale for years, but a downturn in the global telecommunications sector and past political instability and violence in Pakistan led to delays.

The government owns 88 percent of the shares of PTCL as it sold 12 percent of the company's shares in the international and domestic markets in 1994.

Source: Xinhua