As the PTCL-Telenor merger continues to ignite controversy, former IT Minister and Senator Anusha Rahman has reportedly resigned from the Senate Standing Committee on IT — a move insiders see as an attempt to distance herself from the growing scandal.
Read More: PTCL Has a History of Abusing Its Dominant Position
Anusha Rahman has been serving on the board of PTCL’s loss-making subsidiary, Ufone. During a recent meeting of the Senate IT body, committee members demanded that the IT Ministry disclose the names of Ufone’s board directors.
Senator Kamran Murtaza dropped a bombshell, revealing that these directors were pocketing $5,000 per meeting — an outrageous payout considering PTCL is drowning in losses. Despite repeated demands, IT ministry officials stonewalled the committee and refused to share the board’s names, sparking a political firestorm.
Sources told that Rahman has now quietly moved to the Senate Health Committee — a move critics say is aimed at dodging accountability.
The PTCL-Telenor acquisition itself remains mired in controversy. The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has repeatedly flagged serious concerns over PTCL’s financial capacity to absorb Telenor at a time when it is already bleeding money.
Worse, CCP exposed that Ufone’s massive losses are routinely dumped onto PTCL’s books, effectively eroding shareholder value and depriving the government of profits from a publicly listed company.
In a damning presentation to the Senate IT body, CCP confirmed that PTCL has once again failed to submit a viable $1 billion investment plan — a mandatory condition for the merger’s approval.
The watchdog also accused PTCL of a systematic pattern of regulatory defiance, pointing out that the company has challenged multiple PTA regulations in court, secured stay orders, and effectively crippled PTA’s ability to regulate its pricing. This means PTCL can charge arbitrary tariffs to other operators without oversight.
CCP warned that PTCL’s refusal to maintain separate accounting for PTCL and Ufone creates a high risk of cross-subsidization — allowing Ufone to survive on the back of PTCL’s revenues in clear violation of competition principles.
Adding fuel to the fire, CCP reminded lawmakers of PTCL’s history of collusion, citing the ICH cartel case in which PTCL and 13 other players were penalized for anti-competitive practices.
The picture that emerges is grim: a once state-owned giant now accused of abusing its dominance, flouting regulations, siphoning losses, and bulldozing its way into a monopoly that could strangle competition and rob consumers of choice.