Exactly like we reported yesterday, Government of Pakistan has announced that it will hold auctions for 3G and 4G licences this April.
The proposal that was submitted by 3G consultants – details of which are available here – has been approved by Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, Prime Minister of Pakistan.
Ishaq Dar, the Finance Minister, while speaking with media personals confirmed that government has decided to go with simultaneous auction of three 3G and two 4G licenses by April 2014.
Mr. Dar confirmed that a 3G license of 10Mhz block from 2100Mhz band will cost $295 million, while a 4G license of 10Mhz from 1800Mhz band is priced at $210 million.
Dar said the government would be looking for full payment, or a 50 per cent payment with the rest to be paid in five equal instalments over five years, with an interest rate of three per cent.
More details about the auction are likely to get revealed in the Information Memorandum that is likely to surface with-in couple of weeks.
Mr. Dar said that consultants will now finalize the draft for IM after the approvals from Prime Minister.
Experts have welcomed government’s decision for auctioning 4G spectrum as well.
While it is valid that operators might see 4G spectrum not viable at this point in time. However Pakistan offers undeniable potential to first mover in 4G services with over 97 percent population that is currently without any broadband.
With auctioning of 4G licenses, Pakistan will rank amongst the couple of dozen countries that currently have 4G services, against over 160 countries that have already 3G networks working there.
Not to forget that 3G networks might not offer more than 2Mbps speeds to end users, while 4G operators can offer upto 100Mbps speeds on their networks.
4g 4g 4g 4g !!!!!!!!!!
WushMallayyyyyyyyyyyy !!!!! Yaqeen nahi araha bhaii loggggggggggggggggggggggg mujhayyy :) :D
kar lo yaqeen
Yeah!!!!!!!!
I have used 3g in Different Countries of the World, They do offer speed upto 4mbps and more.. why not in Pakistan?
After a long while, reading something that brought a smile on my face. Last time something brought a smile was when I read about PAF strikes yesterday :)
Warid, you better have 4G!
First of all bring competitive people in the Information technology ministry and then took these vital decisions. It is my request to Nawaz Family to stop distributing everything among your family members and close friends. Why Professionals are not running such sensitive matters???
Anusha Rehman the current Information technology minister is LLB and how come a person with a qualification like LLB ( Bachelor of Law ) and no background of IT is guiding a Nation of 200 Million Approx towards the Information Technological revolution?. The only qualification of Anusha Rehman at present is that she is the Friend of Maryam Nawaz and that is enough to award her IT state ministry.
“Not to forget that 3G networks might not offer more than 2Mbps speeds to end users, while 4G operators can offer upto 100Mbps speeds on their networks.”
That depends on what you are calling 3G & 4G. generally 3G is considered to be the HSPA band (or CDMA which is a different story and a route I do not expect the carriers to take) with speeds anywhere between 2-15 mbps. While 4G generally means LTE, speeds upto 100mbps, some carriers refer to HSPA+ as 4G which has about half the speed of LTE.
As far as I know HSPA & HSPA+ are reverse compatible (HSPA phones can access HSPA+ networks at the speed of HSPA (2-15 mbps) & vice versa) so they may or may not need a separate license.
So far lets just hope that 4G here means LTE & the carriers choose to deploy HSPA+ networks for the usual 3G so that those of us with better phones can get better speeds even on 3G
That’s gonna be awesome!! However 3G or 4G will be hell expensive (Telecom operators will be using skimming strategy!!) – Though a positive step…
hey guys…. am in Day Dreaming or what.. 4G in Pakistan.. ulti chalangain lagao….. dostoooooo
WoW it’s great news for us…….. thanks for informing…!!!