$800 Million Held Back Prompts Pakistan to Assess Arbitration in Telecom Dispute
Key Facts
Pakistan’s Senate committees on information technology and privatization examined about $800 million still unpaid from the sale of a stake in telecom company PTCL to Etisalat, and members were told that a government committee had recommended assessing international arbitration. At a joint meeting held on Tuesday, they were told that the Attorney General’s Office had been tasked with implementing a cabinet decision under Rule 24 of the Rules of Business, 1973. This puts the matter on a legal and government track to assess recovery of the balance, but does not mean arbitration proceedings have begun or that a notice has been sent to the company. The report said the balance remained withheld over the failure to transfer a group of PTCL properties. Moving to a notice of intent depends on a legal assessment and approval from the prime minister or federal government.
The claim dates to a deal struck by Pakistan’s government in 2005, when it sold 26% of PTCL’s shares to Etisalat, along with management rights, for $2.59 billion. According to a Privatisation Ministry briefing cited in the report, the government received $1.76 billion of the deal value, while about $800 million remained unpaid. This breakdown shows that the disputed amount is the outstanding portion of the announced deal consideration, not the value of the entire sale. The property transfers were linked to the remaining payment, which Etisalat continued to withhold because the properties in question had not been transferred. The company is now known as e&, according to the report.
The practical sticking point centers on the transfer of the company’s properties: a Privatisation Ministry briefing said 99% of the properties had been transferred, while 32 of 3,246 remained outstanding. According to the report, Etisalat linked its continued withholding of about $800 million to the failure to transfer those properties. This figure shows the remaining portion of the property file relative to the total number of properties listed in the briefing, while the financial balance remains tied to resolving the property issue. The Privatisation Committee told the Senate in January 2015 that 3,214 properties had been transferred to PTCL and that the transfer of 34 properties had been impossible for reasons including legal obstacles. The earlier parliamentary statement shows that difficulties transferring some properties had been documented more than a decade before the current discussion.
The Privatisation Ministry said the government had made efforts since 2015 to resolve post-privatization issues, including forming committees and holding negotiations with Etisalat in pursuit of an amicable settlement. In a government statement on a meeting held in September 2015, senior company and government officials met under the chairmanship of the finance minister, and the two sides agreed that Etisalat would provide a valuation of the properties that could not be transferred the following week. The statement said negotiations continued after that meeting. In July 2026, the government formed another committee chaired by the prime minister’s adviser on privatization, with representatives from the ministries of information technology and law and the Attorney General’s Office. The recommendation to assess arbitration came amid these extended efforts to address post-privatization issues.
The next step is to complete the legal assessment before deciding whether to proceed with arbitration. According to what the Senate committees were told, the attorney general should, if he concludes that the case has grounds to proceed, seek approval from the prime minister or federal government before sending a notice of intent to Etisalat. The report said a summary was later submitted to the cabinet, while arbitration remained under consideration. The available facts do not specify when a notice would be sent or whether a final decision to proceed has been made. Recovery of the balance therefore remains tied to legal steps and government approvals, as well as the unresolved property transfers.