Three pre-qualified international bidders have deposited their earnest money of 40 million US dollars each to participate in the bidding of the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) to be held Saturday, Pakistani Privatization Commission said Friday.

By virtue of the deposit, these three bidders, namely Etisalat (the United Arab Emirates), China Mobile (China) and SingTel ( Singapore), are now eligible for bidding process, said a statement issued here by the commission.

The Privatization Commission is holding the bidding of the state-owned PTCL for the sale of its 26 percent shares with management control as a wholly-integrated telecom operator Saturday.

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 five GSM cellular providers in Pakistan, and Paknet, a countrywide internet service provider.

The Pakistani government owns 88 percent shares of PTCL as the last divestment occurred in 1994 when it raised 900 million dollars by selling 9 percent of the company's shares on the international market in the form of global depositary receipts.

The government also sold 3 percent of its stakes to the domestic market the same year to list on the Karachi Stock Exchange.

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 last week announced Saturday as the date for bidding of PTCL's 26 percent of shares, which was immediately rejected by the workers' union of the company.

The union which is against privatization of PTCL threatened to call for a general strike to jam the company's system if the government proceeds with its privatization plan. Many workers fear that privatization may leave them jobless.

To ensure the smooth privatization process, the government has deployed security forces and policemen to take over all sensitive and important PTCL installations throughout the country. Now the PTCL system is working efficiently.

Source: Xinhua