Mobilink Renew Licence for Mobile Telephony

Islamabad, 9 August: Mobilink, Pakistan's leading cellular service provider with more than 25 million customers and part of the Orascom Telecom group today announced the renewal of its license for mobile telephony in a signing ceremony held at a local hotel today.

Mobilink entered the market as the first GSM operator in Pakistan and was awarded the license 15 years ago in 1992.

Currently with five major players in the field, Mobilink stands as the market leader with the largest coverage footprint of over 5,000 cities towns and villages across Pakistan. The signing ceremony took place between Chairman Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Maj. Gen. (R) Shahzada Alam Malik and Zouhair A.Khaliq, President and CEO Mobilink. The license has been renewed at US$291 million for the next 15 years.

Expressing his views during the signing ceremony, Chairman PTA said, "I see a healthy trend in cellular growth, it is not only bringing substantial revenue to the exchequer, but also helping people communicate more frequently and easily at affordable tariffs. Mobilink has shown promising growth holding major market share and I wish them all the success in the future".

Mr. Khaliq said" Leading the growth in Pakistan's telecom sector has been an exciting journey and Mobilink has spearheaded the industry and reshaped the lives of millions of Pakistanis."

"The government policy framework has been especially encouraging. Pakistan is now one of the most deregulated markets in the world and this Industry is an example of a successful public-private partnership." He added.

Mobilink continues to lead the industry with over one million customer additions every month and offers the most diverse value added services platform of Business tools such as the Blackberry ® and personal services such as ring back tones and song dedications for a diverse customer base.

The license renewal is another testament to the Orascom Telecom commitment towards Pakistan and the confidence in its economic stability exhibited through this healthy investment. Additional investments in the pipeline include the fiber optic cable being deployed throughout the country and additional data and communication facilities being deployed across the Country.