PTA Publishes IM: 3G / 4G Auction in Pakistan on April 7th

Pakistan_Flag

Much awaited Information Memorandum or IM for next-gen license auction has been published by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, after which we have a date of Auction for 3G and 4G licenses now.

While primary details are as they were revealed before, the auction for three 3G and two 4G licenses is set for April 7th, 2014.

Base price for one 3G license from 2100Mhz is set at $295 million while the reserve price for 4G license from 1800Mhz band is set at $210 million for a duration of 15 years.

In case a new operator wins the 3G and/or 4G license then it will also have to buy a GSM license worth $291 million from 850Mhz.

In order to win 4G spectrum in 1800 MHz band, the bidder must win at least one 3G license.

License auction will comprise of two phases. In the first phase, operators will have to submit sealed bids – which must not be less than the base prices of licenses — to qualify for the second phase.

Second and final phase will involve simultaneous multiple round ascending (SMRA) auction to determine the winner of spectrum. Second round of bidding will only happen if there are more operators than the licenses available for auction.

PTA has asked the stakeholders to submit their input on IM before March 10th, 2014. Operators will be allowed till March 19th to inquire about anything related to bidding.

By March 25th, 2014 – 4PM Pakistan Time – is the deadline for the operators to submit their sealed bids, along with a pre-bid deposit of 15% of the total value of the sealed-bid.

After assessing, PTA will announced qualified operators by March 28th, 2014.

Final round of auction – if required  — will happen on April 7th, 2014.

IM has said that operators can either pay 100% of the license fee with-in 30 days of the auction or they can pay 50% with-in 30 days of the auction while rest of the payment can be made in 5 years in five equal yearly instalments.

Coverage and Rollout Obligations

IM details that operators will have to spread their 3G services in Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta plus 10 more cities – one of which must be in each province – with-in six months. Down the line, they will have to provide coverage to 80% of District headquarters with-in 18 months.

Check below tables for more details on rollout obligations.

Minimum Rollout Obligation for 3G Licensees

3G

Minimum Rollout Obligation for 4G Licensees

4G

Minimum Data Rates for 3G and 4G

  • 3G: Operators will have to ensure a minimum of 512Kbps data rate for over 90% of covered area
  • 4G: Operators will have to ensure a minimum of 2Mpbs data rate for over 90% of covered area

Other Terms

IM said that operators will have to ensure national and International roaming services for its 3G and 4G services. Moreover, customers will be allowed to port out numbers from one network to other using MNP with-in a duration of one year.

IM urged the operators to encourage local manufacturing and R&D with-in Pakistan.

Download IM

You can download IM by clicking this link.

Tech and telecom reporter for over 15 years


  • yaar three 3G licence hain for auction, which operator do u think wont be having/qualifying for 3G i think it would be warid and telenor.
    In my opinion Mobilink, Ufone and zong will put all Egg on one basket to get 3g licence

    • Ufone??? Are you joking? Ufone parent have pending PTCL dues, GSM license renewal. And on top of that this 3G is big burden for them.

      • Ufone has already upgraded its network for 3G.. they spent for bidding not testing.. Telenor would go for 3G/4G too…warid never think about it… Mobilnk and Zong would fight.. let’s see…

        • wo tou telenor ka bhi hai. read the recent interviews, telenor executives are proudly boasting that their network is fully ready for 3G as well as 4G.

          in my view, mobilink, telenor and ufone will get #G licences
          4G licences will go to telenore and mobilink

          • me also think so but ptcl would love to have 4g in the name of ufone…they are testing 4g/LTE since last yeear…
            further let’s see…

    • Telenor Pakistan will be the 1st network in PK to launch 4G first of all. They’ve got stuff ready for it already.

      • They are internally thinking that price is too high so might only go for 3G as they are too cost centric and that why chooses most worst ZTE.

  • LOL on 4G they only allowing 2mbps data rate and on 3G just 512Kbps…one can surely imagine 2mbps bandwidth shared with 30million subscribers will get how much speed….simply pathetic speeds just like GPRS while they will be ripping off the comsumers with high price plans

    • LOL .. I wish 3G/4G bring good English reading skills :P .. Word ‘MINIMUM’ is used in above article. Which means Kam se Kam in Urdu …

    • these are minimum standards my dear.. for your kind information.. by Definition “Broadband refers to a communication bandwidth of at least 256 kbit/s” but what are you getting these days, surely 2/4 Mbps.. in the same way “3G telecommunication networks support services that provide an information transfer rate of at least 200 kbit/s” but in reality they are quit high.. average speed of 3G would be 2Mbps and 4G would be 10 Mbps… hope for good
      (Source of definitions : Wikipedia)

        • i am in touch with some telecom guys involved in testing of 3G services and their feedback was good… that’s why i am hopeful for good…

    • Mr Kaswani,

      I am really feeling shame on your reading and understanding skills, they Saying minimum speed which companies to must provide in any situation at any distance from towers in these specified cities or area Otherwise they must get fined from Govt. and any body can sue them for not providing that minimum speed they agreed for buying the license and keep this in mind maximum speed is not specified.

      With all the latest technology and the technology currently in the marked with HSDPA and HADPA+ which falls in 3G you get easily 8MBPS in high density areas and at low density you get 12MBPS and laughing.

      Well even companies tried to save mony they must deploy minimum of 2MBS for 3G to keep them on safe side for not to fall in Fine category.

      And 2MBS is as well average speed on 3G which you get if you are on ground floor, in tunnel, on moterway, etc in most of they Western Countries.

      I am in Australia and i do experience this i do get only 6MBPS on 3G on my iphone 5 if i am really close to mobile tower otherwise i get 2MBPS and 3MBPS average and which is pretty good because i dont see any hicups on sending emails, messaging making VOIP calls or even vedio calls and vedio streaming i do use all these things.

      So donot hype every thing and just wellcome this good thing.

  • ya now we are gonna towards 3g & 4g, pakistan 3g speed will 5.1 or less then 4.5 mbps and 4g speed will 20mbps , 3g download speed will 500 or upto 550kbps and 4g downld speed will 2mbps…and pakgs on 3g 10GB 1500rs unlmtd will 2500rs or 3000rs..on 4g pakgs will start 2500rs 20GB 3500RS 30GB and unlmtd will 5000 or 5600rs..that,s not govt news it,s ma hupoths..search other country 3g and 4g packages..

  • kaswani it,s only data rates of download and upload speed not such a speed of 3g and 4g…take care

  • Evo Wingle 9.3 is dead slow now for the last 10+ days giving only (0.3Mbps). PTCL officials say it is because they are upgrading and moving to 3G. They say I am not alone, the entire Karachi is suffering. Is it true ? who else is suffering dead-slow speed ?

    • CHECK you limit you have exeeded 50 gb of download limit this will reset on 1st of the coming month.

    • Well I have unlimited package which is 75GB and it is dead since I hardly used 20GB. It dropped to 1Mbps, then 0.3Mbps and now since yesterday I am hardly able to open any website (just like old fashioned dial-ups). Connection is also not stable and in the control panel it shows switching between 2G and 3G which indicates that there must be something going on.

      By the way I am in Karachi and they say more than 80% users in Karachi are suffering. So I want to verify it. Are you with me ?

  • Ufone still offers best data speed on 2G network. so they are expected to perform even better in 3G.

  • It’s a bad idea, we should need to move direct to 4G instead of 3G, but why it is important to get 3G before getting 4G?

    • Already People of Pakistan have very less rate of Smartphone owning. So it will be useless to upgrade to 4G directly. You have to purchase 4G enabled phone to use that tech.

    • this is happening in whole world.. 4G is still in top countries with one or two providers.. thanks God we are getting some thing.. india still on 3g only

    • 3G Evo is a different technology than 3G/4G offered via GSM companies. EVO or rather EVDO is for CDMA cellular providers such as PTCL/Worldcall etc BTW PTCL is yet to release its 4G service which I suggest they are waiting for the perfect time.

      • But once the Back-Bone connections are upgraded to handle mobile data downloads, these devices will automatically get good bandwidth. I also think that DSL speed will also be increased for users otherwise everyone will use 3G/4G enabled wireless devices or use mobile internet.

  • agar old networks he rahay to awam phir lut’ti rahay ge. new operators agar old operators sath na millay to shayad competition wali faza dobara wapis ajayay.

  • Very high priced policy for auction where there are loadhshedding, security issues…draining juice out of this highly tax paid industry……
    when will Govt facilitate industry like that of India?
    Poor electricity conditions, security concerns, network shut down on events and still Govt wants 25*5= 125bn PKR from 5 licenses.
    Truly rivalry steps for telecom industry

    • Sir, why dont these operators exit if they are so oppressed? What about stealing billions from national exchequer? and tax evasion? and causing insecurity in the country? Did govt. ask them to sell sims like sadkay ka gosht? These companies should stop playing innocent and be a man. Yes, in international law, companies are considered persons.

  • BC Abi 3G/4G Aaya Nahi Aur Logon Ki BQwas Shooro.. Slow Speed, Khali 4G Lain..
    Chavlan Jayan Na Hoon Te!!

  • Bhai ko mujhay yeh to batao plzzzzz kay what happened to PTCL internet ? I am using Evo Wingle 9.3 but it is now working like old age dial-up. I used to get way more than 700+KB download speed in the night but now its almost dead.

    They say they are switching/upgrading 3G and more than 80% users are suffering. They do not give any time frame. Am I alone or you are also facing the same issue?

  • I didn’t come here to read the article.. I came here to ask why is my artwork used here without permission?

  • i just hope ALLAH Gives this government enough courage to go through with the process. Countries like South Korea and the UK are already forming partnerships with India and others to launch 5G by 2020, so we, if not by then, need to be at a steady level with 4G LTE by the time everybody shifts to the next big thing

  • one thing is for sure, all major mobile operators are going to purse the 3G & 4G licences.

  • PTA is doing a great job at least we have to admire this….in the country where processes take years to bring the reality,PTA did it in shorter span of time..

  • The reports from reuters is totally baseless.. even on base price, 3/4G will fetch more than 1.3B US$.. This will be a productive auction

  • The reports from reuters is totally baseless.. even on base price, 3/4G will fetch more than 1.3B US$.. This will be a productive auction

  • The reports from reuters is totally baseless.. even on base price, 3/4G will fetch more than 1.3B US$

  • Friends Agar Ap Kisi B Num Ki Details Chahte Hain Cnic…….Num…..Address….Call History To Contact Me.0347-8800500 / 0345-4849501 / 0345-2324025

    Har Kisam KY Softwares Available Hain.

    Apne
    Friend Ko Usi k Num se msg kren ya use 15 se ya kisi b name ya number
    ae msg kren. 345, 300, 310, 333, 321, PTA , 3737, 8257, Ya Alll World
    NO say bhe text kar Sakty hain……..

    For software contact price on call.u can also find location of sim contact on 0347-8800500 / 03454849501 / 0345-2324025


  • Get Alerts

    Follow ProPakistani to get latest news and updates.


    ProPakistani Community

    Join the groups below to get latest news and updates.



    >