Hutch Lanka Marge & acquisition with Etisalat Lanka

Hutchison Telecommunications Lanka (Pvt) Ltd

Hutch is a Sri Lankan telecommunication
service providers and the country's third
largest mobile network operator, with
approximately 4.2 million subscribers of
the Sri Lankan mobile market as of june
2021.
Initially it was called as "CallLink" and was the second mobile operator in Sri
Lanka. Hutchison acquired its services in 1998 with the aim of being a nationwide
operator in Sri Lanka.
Hutchison Telecom Lanka is a member of Hutchison Asia Telecom which
comprises mobile telecommunications operations in the emerging markets of
Indonesia, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka. Hutchison Asia Telecom is a key part of CK
Hutchison Holdings which includes the 3 Group comprising 3G operations in
Austria, Denmark, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Macau, Sweden and the
UK.

As of September 2018, Hutch has a network coverage of approximately 90% of

the entire island before the acquisition.
Etisalat Lanka (Pvt) Ltd
Etisalat which has formerly known as Celltel and later
Tigo, was a mobile telecommunications network in Sri
Lanka.
It was owned by the United Arab Emirates based
telecommunications operator Emirates
Telecommunication Group Company PJSC (doing business
as Etisalat) until December 2018.
Etisalat had over 4.2 million customers at the end of February 2012. The company
announced the commercial launch of Dual Carrier HSPA+ services on 15 August
2012, becoming the first operator in South Asia to do so.

Marge & Acquisition

In April 2018 CK Hutchison Group and Etisalat Group have entered into a
definitive agreement to merge their mobile telecommunications businesses in Sri
Lanka.

CK Hutchison completed the acquisition of Etisalat Lanka on 30 November 2018.

Strengthening its market position through this acquisition, Hutch Lanka will
continue to operate under the brand name of Hutch as Etisalat Lanka ceases to
exist in the country.

Upon completion of the transaction, CK

Hutchison Holdings Group will have the
majority and controlling stake in the combined
entity.
Upon completion of the sale CK Hutchison Holdings Limited group will have a
majority and controlling stake of 85% whilst Etisalat Group will have 15%
ownership of Hutch Lanka.
This strategy eventually placed us in a strong position to acquire an 85% stake in
the business of our competitor, Etisalat. The network merger was completed in
2020 propelling Hutch into Sri Lanka’s major league. The merger was not about
the short-term gains. Certainly there are short term benefits, but these are not
significant compared to the long-term returns.

Achieving critical scale is necessary for massive investments in 3G, 4G and later
5G to be feasible. Spectrum frequency is critical to achieving this scale, the
merger expanded our spectrum bank enabling us to deliver on the promised
mobile internet experiences.
Hutch has been in Sri Lanka for more than two decades now, but we have taken a
more strategic and calculated approach. We decided not to introduce the new
technology until the market shows reasonable demand. In this way, we were able
to secure satisfactory ROIs and investors trusted us by continuing to invest in Sri
Lanka.
We have designed special data products and services for a mass market and our
entire network assets are positioned to cater to the future demand for data and
faster internet.