By Aamir Attaa · Wednesday, Apr 25, 2012 on PROpakistani.pk
Link Dot Net and Mobilink Infinity, Orascom’s fully owned subsidiaries for DSL and WiMAX broadband services and sister concerns of Mobilink, are considering to wrap up its operations in Pakistan, amid low returns and to shift the group focus on core cellular services and branchless banking.Sources familiar with the development have confirmed ProPakistani that Infinity and LDN have decided in principle to exit Pakistani market.
However, final decision is yet to come after annual board meeting of Pakistan Mobile Communication Limited, a company under which Orascom operates in Pakistan. Meeting is scheduled for May 15th, 2012 in Islamabad.
Another source in the company told ProPakistani that decision is yet to be made, hence nothing can be said as of now. But yes, group is considering an option to quit operations in Pakistan.
Orascom had bought World On Line and Dancom to offer DSL broadband services in Pakistan. Link Dot Net, after in operations, has been facing tough competition from PTCL, country’s largest DSL broadband service provider. In addition to competition, analysts say, LDN was victim of anti-competitive practices by the telecom giant.
Moilink Infinity, on the other hand, started offering WiMAX services in Karachi back in 2008 with plans to stretch the coverage to other parts of the country. However, it contended with Karachi only especially when Orascom had capped additional investments for various markets it was operating in.
