Engro’s tower sharing deal shows Pakistan is open for business: Samad Dawood

Tough measures taken by the Government have helped achieve macroeconomic stability and revived investor confidence in Pakistan, leading to Engro’s largest transaction in Pakistani rupee terms, said Samad Dawood.

Last week, Engro Corporation announced a strategic partnership with Pakistan Mobile Communications Limited (“Jazz”) and its parent company VEON Group, to expand Engro’s footprint in the mobile tower-sharing business. Through a scheme of arrangement, Jazz’s telecom infrastructure assets, housed under its wholly owned subsidiary Deodar (Private) Limited (“Deodar”), will vest into Engro Connect, a subsidiary of Engro Corporation. Engro will guarantee the repayment of Deodar’s debt of USD 375 million and provide Jazz with an additional USD 187.7 million. The transaction is subject to corporate, legal, and regulatory approvals.

“The actions taken in Pakistan over the last few quarters, along with hard decisions for macroeconomic stability, have led to this deal. The incoming macro stability and IMF’s seal of approval has a huge impact on foreign financiers to look at Pakistan as an invest-able market,” said Samad Dawood. He added that a decline in interest rates and inflation, along with Pakistan’s ongoing IMF programme, have helped improve the investment climate as well.

The companies plan expanding tower sharing coverage to other operators and looking into to other use cases, which could include electronic vehicle charging and drone landing.

“Pakistan is a very large market in terms of telecom, which keeps growing larger,” according to Samad Dawood, Vice Chairman of Dawood Hercules Corp, which owns 40% of Engro Corp. “This infrastructure business, with scale, allows us to utilise telecom infrastructure better in Pakistan and eventually also serve international markets as well,” said Dawood, identifying countries from “the Atlantic coast of Morocco all the way to Central Asian states” as potential markets.

Engro entered the telecommunication infrastructure sector in 2018 and provides essential infrastructure to all Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) in Pakistan. By utilizing Engro’s enhanced infrastructure, MNOs will reduce capital and operational expenditures, allowing them to focus on delivering enhanced services and expanding coverage. This cost efficiency will enable operators to reach underserved areas, improving connectivity for millions of Pakistanis and supporting the nation’s digital transformation.