According to sources, PSO (Pakistan State Oil) a well known and largest oil marketing organization in Pakistan is conducting due diligence on the Pakistani operations of a Norwegian telecommunications operator, Telenor.
Telenor is planning to sell out their operations in Pakistan which valued approximately $1bn, with the first round of bids expected to be invited soon.
PSO is expected to take over Telenor Pakistan and Easypaisa, as per regulatory approval and completing the bidding documentation and due diligence on the businesses.
Easypaisa which was launched in 2009, providing the services which includes mobile wallet, mobile payments and branchless banking and have 9million of monthly active users currently.
Initially, it was introduced as a fund transfer service via USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) channel but later on in 2016, Easypaisa app was introduced, which enabled the financial transactions to be carried out in addition to funds transfers.
Easypaisa is basically a branchless banking service provider of Telenor Microfinance Bank, which is jointly owned by Telenor Group.
Recently, on 17January 2023 they launched their debit card too.
The firm has decided to quit it’s operations in Pakistan because of heavy taxation on the telecoms industry and the PTA’s (Pakistani Telecommunication Authority) terms and conditions, which have grind down the revenues.
