In Pakistan, Ufone’s rebranding to e& awaits government approval
In Pakistan, mobile operator Ufone is awaiting government permission to rebrand as e& following PTCL’s acquisition of operator Telenor Pakistan. This was reported to the Senate Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunications during a meeting, Dawn reports.
Approval by the governments of Pakistan and the UAE
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Chairman, retired Major General Hafeezur Rehman, said that the Privatization Commission had not allowed the regulator to approve Ufone’s proposed rebranding to e&. According to him, the matter can only be approved by the governments of Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates.
Ufone’s management applied for the brand change to align it with the brand of UAE telecommunications operator e&, previously known as Etisalat. IT Secretary Zarar Hasham Khan said that Pakistan Telecommunication Mobile Limited had applied to the PTA for the relevant permission.
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According to him, the issue is currently under discussion, while the positions of the PTA and the Competition Commission of Pakistan differ. The committee was also told that the name change would be carried out in accordance with existing rules and after obtaining the necessary approvals from the federal government.
Connectivity problems and satellite systems
Answering a question about communications outages in the country, the PTA chairman linked the problems in major cities to the merger of Ufone and Telenor and the rollout of 5G services. He assured the committee that the situation should improve next month.
The committee also expressed concern over Pak Datacom’s decision to switch satellite communications from the national PakSat system to UAE-based Yahsat. Members of the body warned that this move could have implications for national security. Separately, the committee postponed consideration of Starlink’s licensing issue: the PTA clarified that it has no pending application, and the matter requires approval from other government agencies.
