KARACHI:VIS Credit Rating Company Limited has reaffirmed entity ratings of Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited at triple A/A-One plus.
The medium to long-term rating of ‘AAA’ denotes highest credit quality, with negligible risk factors, being only slightly more than for risk-free debt of Government of Pakistan, said release on Thursday.
The short-term rating of ‘A-1+’ denotes highest certainty of timely payment, liquidity factors are outstanding and safety is just below risk free short-term obligations of Government of Pakistan. Outlook on the assigned ratings is stable. The previous rating action was announced on Oct.5,2020.
PTCL is the leading Integrated Information Communication Technology (ICT) Company in Pakistan, having the largest fixed-line network in the country. The company’s products and services include voice services, high-speed broadband internet, CharJi wireless internet, Smart TV (IPTV) service, Smart TV App and Touch App, digital-content streaming services like Netflix and enterprise-grade platforms like Smart Cloud, Tier-3 Certified Data Centers, Managed and Satellite Services. PTCL has wholly owned subsidiaries including Pak Telecom Mobile Limited (UFONE), which is a mobile service provider and a growing Microfinance Bank, U-Microfinance Bank Limited.
The assigned ratings take into account strong ownership structure of PTCL, as 62.2% shareholding is held by the Government of Pakistan and 26% by Etisalat Group along with the management control. Etisalat Group currently carries AA-/Stable ratings from the S&P Global and Aa3/Stable ratings from Moody’s.