VimpelCom together with Warid Telecom Pakistan and Dhabi Group shareholders, today announced the completion of the transaction to merge Pakistan Mobile Communications Limited (Mobilink) and Warid Telecom (Warid), creating Pakistan’s next generation digital telecommunications provider.

Over 50 million customers in Pakistan will benefit from high-speed mobile telecommunications and a best-in-class digital mobile network.

The combined Mobilink and Warid entity will be the leading telecommunications provider of 2G, 3G and LTE services in Pakistan, providing higher quality national voice and data coverage, faster downloads, and a wider portfolio of products and services.

VimpelCom continues to make significant progress against its transformation program. This market consolidation represents a further step in our strategy to strengthen our position in the markets in which we operate  ─ Jeffrey Hedberg Mobilink

I am very happy that we have arrived at this milestone today which marks a unique moment for the Pakistan telecom sector. It is very positive news for Pakistan’s economy ─ Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan, Dhabi Group

The completion of the transaction follows regulatory approval from all the relevant authorities and the subsequent exchange of shares. Mobilink has completed the acquisition of 100 percent of Warid’s shares, and the Dhabi Group Shareholders have acquired 15 percent of the shares of Mobilink.

Mobilink and Warid will benefit from VimpelCom’s USD 1 billion investment into building one of the largest and most ambitious IT infrastructures in the industry. The combined revenue of both companies for the 12 months to March 2016 was USD 1.4 billion.

Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Hedberg will hand over the CEO role of Mobilink and Warid to Aamir Ibrahim, currently Chief Commercial Officer and Deputy CEO of Mobilink.