Telcos to Commercially Launch 3G Services With-in Two Weeks

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Pakistani SIM

After successful auction of 3G and 4G spectrum yesterday, each and every mobile phone user is now waiting for the commercial launch of 3G services in the country.

The information ProPakistani received yesterday revealed that despite winning the spectrum, the commercial commencement of 3G service may take a week or two at most.

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority said that it will hold License Award ceremony after operators will pay their remaining license fee.

“15% of earnest money is already with the PTA, while remaining license fee will be settled with-in a week or so”, said Dr. Ismail Shah, Chairman PTA, in an interview with ProPakistani.

He said that after all the payments are settled, through consensus, PTA will set a date for the license award ceremony.

“After getting the license and NOC from PTA, mobile phone companies can start 3G services very same day”, confirmed us Chairman PTA.

As explained, this date for license award ceremony isn’t finalized yet as operators will have to clear their dues ahead of this ceremony. Just to add, mobile phone companies had maximum of 30 days to pay remaining license fee.

We will let our readers know the date once we have any word on this.

On a related note, mobile phone users won’t have to get new SIMs for availing 3G services. All current mobile phone users with their currently working SIMs will be able to use 3G services. Yes, a compatible handset is a must.

Meanwhile, mobile phone companies will continue to offer 3G services on trial bases to hard test their network and capacities.

Tech and telecom reporter for over 15 years


  • How about in Quetta???? Is 3G coming to quetta as well in the first phase???

    • I also wonder if it will be available in Quetta when it’s commercially launched for other cities ..It should be
      @Amir bhai: can u confirm it, please for readers of propkistani in Quetta.

        • It depends on which operator are you on and their equipment readiness in the area. For instance, Mobilink is doing network swap these days so if they can’t provide 3G service in areas where they don’t have new equipment installed!

          Telenor has already deployed 3G ready sites all over Pakistan.

          • No , this rule is defined by pta. all major cities including peshawar, islamabad, quetta, lahore and karachi should get 3G in the first phase

    • Queta is a integral Part of Pakistan, Just like Lahore, Islamabad, RawalPindi, karachi, Peshawar. . .

      Yes you will get not only 3g but also avail 4g LTE !

    • Dear Brother, The first phase is for Postpaid Customers and It,ll be available withing a first month after the companies get the licenses and NOCs from PTA.In the first phase the 3G/4G Services Must be launched (As per the license Terms and Conditions) in Lahore, Karachi, Capital Territory Islamabad, Peshawar and Quetta. And within two months it,ll be available to Prepaid Customers also. After 7 months the companies have to expand 3G/4G Network to 90% of their coverage area (as per license Terms and Conditions). While Warid Telecom who was not part of this auction, is planing to acquire the most advanced 4G and LTE licenses later in August this year.

  • and Well Done @amir_Attaa For Such a Brilliant Live Coverage on 3G bidding Ceremony

  • great job done by PTA well done finaly the auction is done and we are proud that pakistan has join in 3g and 4g and will compete with other countries.

  • first of all congrats all Pakistani and specially zong costumer great work by Pakistan Government and PTA

    • Yes congrats to Pakistanis – with 3G / 4G they will be able to get cheaper bread and butter – but this service may be costly – so better go for cheaper bread and butter

  • After the service lunch, will Mobilink provide 3G on the 9000 cell sites or only major cities?

  • zong maidan maar gaya. baaqi paisy bachaaty rahy. 10mhz 3g spectrum is persuading me to jump to zONg from teleNOr

    • Muhammad, 10 MHz or 5 MHz doesn’t matter for 3G customers, speed will remain the same. Its more towards network planners to plan the sites accordingly. So don’t worry, you will get similar speeds on your existing SIM

      • wish ppl wud understand 5mhz & 10mhz in relation to network architecture rather than thinking of it as speed!!!
        is qaum ko jo sab say zyada ooncha bolta hai bas wohi acha lagta hai….akal ho na ho!

        • Bilal could you please tell me the main difference between 3G 5MHz and 3G 10MHz? Will these different architectures affect the speed or not?

        • for few customers on one site speed may be same but in congested areas/more users yes 10mhz can serve more users.

          • for 5Mhz more cell sites are needed to cover areas and on 10Mhz less cell sites are required to cover area . SIMPLE :)

  • Hello friends
    If any one of you is in Mianwali please check whether there is 3G or not??

  • what about mansehra,i know it will be there but when??
    and 4g will take how long//

  • You can not compete unless the minimum charging pulse for data is reduced to 1K instead of 64K. This divides 1MB data in 1024 units while 64K cuts it in only 16 units. 64K chunk eats up you Data Limit rapidly hence your money. While 1K chunk gives you more data in less money….Lets see !!!

  • @aamir attaa First of all thank u for all those live updates yesterday. If there is a reward or shield that the government gives to those who offer unique special services like u did yesterday, u deserve it… Just a couple of questions, bare with me : 1) Which 3g networks are all the operators going to deploy? Would they start with normal UMTS 3g, then move along to HSPA, and then to HSPA+, or just start with the fastest one? 2) When Zong launches their 4g lte services, will they be Td-lte or Fdd-lte? Which would be better, or whether they would launch LTE-ADVANCED, the same technology they are going to deploy in their homeland China?… More than just a couple of questions, but u would really be a dear if answered them in a little detail :)

          • omer bhai mobilink ne to 4g licene ke purchase he nahe kya plus ap ka set artix hd 4g lte 700mhz and 2100mhz mein support karta hai jb ke pakistan mein 4g 1800mhz mein aya hai. kamzakazm jhoot mat bolo yaar

            • it shows 4G on main screen , while settings> about phone > network type HSDPA:8
              may be this phone show 3.5G network as 4G…give me your email. I can send you screen shot dear. I don’t need to lie … koan sa medal milna hai mujhay….

  • Ummat newspaper stating that it will take more 6 months for 3G and 12 months for 4G to deploy.

  • unexpected results from yesterday auction !! by the way whole day was productive for future generations technology, i was considering Telenor and Ufone for 4G participation.

  • ProPakistani ???????? Are you ufone biased or what ??? Why you didnt approve my post ????

  • Notwithstanding all the chatter about speed and supported handsets, UFone informed it’s customers yesterday that the 4 GB @ Rs. 500 data bucket has been reduced to 3 GB. Inclusive of 19% tax, the cost of 1 GB EDGE data is now approximately Rs. 200, which tells me that the 3G data cost will certainly be higher than the prevailing rates. Will subscribers pay Rs. 300-400 or even higer per GB for 3G data? I have my doubts.

      • In the start, the price will be high, but with the passing of time the price will gradually decrease.

  • Amazingly strange!!! Zong k signals tak tou stable hain nahi ab 4G…. lolzz Allah kher kary….

  • Ab Operators Ko Chiye Apple, Samsung, Nokia, Sony Wagaira Ka Sath Mil Ke Contract Pe Phone Sale Karna Shooru Karain!!

  • people all over lahore enjoying 3g from mobilink n telenor; but no one claiming from ufone, zong.. both are sleeping..

  • I thought that these companies would need to setup hardware also, so is the hardware already setup or the same hardware can be used? I am not a telecom guy so don’t know of this stuff…

  • Can anyone tell me what technology our companies will provide on 3G?? HSPDA, HSPA+ or DC-HSPA+

    • Zong has tested DC-HSDPA (Dual Carrier or Dual Cell High-Speed Downlink Packet Access)

  • what about Peshawar charsadda and mardan??? is 3G coming to these places in the first phase

  • Actually the term 4G is better than 3G has no meanings. There are so many intricacies, ifs and buts involved. What 4G is that? HSPDA, Wimax or LTE? How is it deployed? What is infrastructure being used? Secondly how do you intend to use 3G/4G is crucial. If you are only using voice 4G is pretty much useless for you. Actually if you keep 4G on without the network coverage you will have serious battery issues and it will drain rapidly.

    It is yet to be seen if the rates are affordable and coverage is as promised. Remember we don’t live in Sweden or Norway where you get what you have been promised :)

    In essence, zyada uchalne ki zarorat nahi ha, abhi 2G hi enjoy kero.

  • 2 weeks time for Warid subscribers to change network to enjoy state of the art 3G technology. Hurry up guys…………….

    • They gona also bring something .. May be merge qith some one … No need tp switch too quickly .. As prime reason for network is quality and warid is without a doubt is best in Pakistan

  • any body please tell me, what frequencies are used for the test services. 5 or 10 mhz

  • can some please tellme i have LG F200K cell phone. can i use 3G on this? or i have to change it. cuz it supports 2100 Mhz but i can use only gprs on it no edge connectivity. but in specs it says Hspda 2100 ? will appreciate your answer

    • U can use 3g on it… Just wait for your operator to officially launched the services

  • Is 3G or 4G available in Taxila or Wah because they are tehsil of rawalpindi please tell me anyone

  • In Multan used 3G today …Really super fast on Mobilink network …After taking a speedtest i found download speed of 9.6 Mbps…

  • Now, it’s time that these wireless internet providers who are using Wimax should opt in for faster internet than 2 Mbps. They have made Pakistanis enough fool for past several years with slowest speeds.

    • totally agreed. WiMax par araam se 20mbps ki speed provide ki jasalti hai lekin ye saray ullu k pathay 2mbps se ziada nai provide karte!! :-/

  • In Hangu district & all it’s TEHSIL areas, there is no covereg of Zong until now,
    Then how can see 3G or 4G networks

  • Yes please certainly they are in a hurry to recover these 1.182 Billion dollars manifold from Pakistan nation.

  • It is learnt that the service will be much costly. What is fun in 3G or 4G. We have to be cost conscious and avoid subscribing these kind of services unless extremely unavoidable.

  • Cmon guys where ever the signal cones, you will get 3g and 4g, so stop asking lay man questions lol

  • The Telecom industry in Pakistan has always flourished during the tenure of Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (MNS). The telecom industry got the first-ever big boost during 1991 when MNS deregulated the telecom industry in Pakistan. As a result, a number of private players entered the Pakistani market and the monopoly of T&T (exorbitant pricing but still loss making) broke. The initial players were:

    1. Digital Communications [DC Pager]

    2. Cable & Wireless [Paktel]
    3. Arfeen Group [Instaphone]
    4. Saif Telecom [Mobilink]

    The efforts for privatization were started in that era with corporatization (of T&T) into PTCL and unbundling of National Telecommunication Corporation (NTC) for the government organizations.

    The telecom industry has been inhibited by General Musharraf’s secret deal with Etisalat in 2006 (in return for taking kickback in the form of a penthouse in Southridge, downtown Dubai) due to which the buyer of PTCL is still not making the remaining payment of US$ 700 Million and Pakistan has been unable to auction the 3G licensing causing huge loss to Pakistan.

    Better late than never!

  • Do we have any expected dates for the commercial roll out of 3g services by different telcos?

    • Bro , use telenor, in ISB , it is working in G9, blue area, G6, I sectors, H8 F8 F6 F10 E10 E11 , and more,

  • salam plz yai 3g sab sa phela gawo me ho n cahyai q ka city me dsl be kam kar ta hai evo usb be kam kar ta hai kpk me 3g cahlo ho jai ga


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