While accepting various demands of telecom companies, the Government of Pakistan has announced that auction for 3G / 4G spectrum will be held on 23rd April 2014.
This was announced after a Spectrum Auction Advisory committee meeting that was held today under the lead of Mr. Ishaq Dar, the Minister for Finance.
Earlier, as per initial draft IM, the auction was planned to be held on April 7th, 2014.
The announcement from Ministry of Finance said that sealed biddings can be submitted by April 14th, 2014.
It was revealed that government has decided to accept the spectrum fee and bank guarantees in Pakistani rupees instead of dollars. Moreover, operators will be offered more time to meet rollout obligations.
It was also decided that no-new license will be issued with the spectrum auction and operators will continue to operate under previous licenses. However, license fee and other obligations are likely to remain the same.
More details about the decisions taken in the meeting are going to surface through revised IM, that is likely to get released by March 17th, 2014.
Chairman PTA Dr. Syed Ismail Shah briefed the Committee on the progress made so far on the auction of 3G/4G licenses. He informed that the new spectrum will provide increased download speed and multiple new applications would be available to the Consumers, and would also generate employment opportunities.
The Finance Minister said that PTA should ensure that best international standards for quality of service were provided to the consumers. He emphasized that the consumers should get state of the art next generation mobile services in line with the international best practices. PTA was also directed by the committee to launch a public awareness campaign.
Finance Minister emphasized that the whole process should be completed with transparency and expressed his satisfaction over the progress. He expressed the hope that PTA would conduct competitive auction for deployment of next generation mobile network. He concluded that with the introduction of new technology the local telecom industry would benefit from transfer of technology and users would have new services and applications through the introduction of mobile broadband.
Later on the committee met the CEOs of cellular mobile operators, who were contended with the fact that government has shown agreement with majority of their demands.
The meeting was also attended by Mr. Zahid Hamid, Minister for Science and Technology, Ms. Anusha Rehman, MoS Information Technology, Dr. Waqar Masood, Finance Secretary, Secretary Ministry of Information Technology Mr Ikhlaq Tarar and senior officials of Ministries of Information Technology and Finance.
phir mein na hi samjhan!!!
“government has decided to accept the spectrum fee and bank guarantees in Pakistani rupees instead of dollars”, I guess Govt. do not need dollars now since Saudi Sheikhs have come to the rescue.
i disliked your comment.. you know why?? because our gov do their best it is good step because with this step our currency is being valuable…… because many foreigners wants to invest in pakistan…. now i hope you understand by all the means….
pakistan are so compromize country, and they are our friend saudia arab,afghanistan,iran,specially islamic countries..oh so competition on 3G nd 4G think about that it,s advance tech……leave other topic ,
others companies are too interested on 3g nd 4g in pak,so hold up pakistanio and pray for best govt of Pmln.
Lets hope it does not get further delayed.
Well, as far as transparency is concerned the bids should be submitted in closed envelops in front of a media conference and opened then awarded on the same time in front of media. If they take the bids to office then all we get would be a highly corrupt decision.
Let things take their course. Wait and hope for better.
I just say (Hahahahahahahahahaha…………………..)
Baba black sheep have you any wool, yes sir yes sir 3 bags full
The Finance Minister said that PTA should ensure that best international standards for quality of service were provided to the consumers.
PTCL ka standard pata hai Anusha g ?
please dont give such kind of news, tired of this delay
It’s True my dear
painchodon khichi jaanday o!
OK! It would be no surprise if they delaye it even more may be for the next Fiscla Year!
Accepting payment in PKR is a good idea. It means that companies shall use/consume PKR from local sources. It means there will be lesser surplus of local currency in the country. This means that rupee will be a bit stronger as compared to all other currencies. I hate to say it, but this is not a bad idea.
But the actual bs is the fact that the payments will not be done upfront. They will be in instalments just like those in Mush’s era. Who knows how rubbish will Pakistani currency be after budget. So, in the long term, successful bidder will save themselves a fortune.
it was a good idea to have payments in mix of USD and PKR.. Pakistan needs USD for foreign reserves and this auction was considered very important for this purpose…
however, do what ever… do it fast…
I hope this process will complete very soon & we’ll be able to use fast internet on smartphones.
What the, anyways, I am sick and tired of those promises specially in IT and telecom this gov have made and delaying. Specially about 3g and opening of youtube in country by deploying that firewall, which I guess doesn’t exist.
why we Pakistani so disappointed its good achievement for PTA and Pakistan government that they launch
both 3g and 4g and see in other countries like Bangladesh they launch
just 3g and still there
They had to do nothing to launch 3g and 4g. They are even getting money for this nothingness.
fuck pakistani government and fuck pta, 3g and 4g will never come in pakistan.
it all sounds load of Gibberish when they start yapping about “*International Standards* & blah blah blah. Get a effin’ move on already. We know how much you *CARE* about “CONSUMERS”……
just being curious ….does any one even have a 4g supported handset ?
;) i was wondering the same ;)
Yes I’ve got one
Me too have that :D
by the time 4G comes to my city which means a year and a half i will have one such set by then but right now 3G will be fine for me..:-p
is it only me or anyone else noticed “Paid PMLN Patwaris” who are chanting “Best PMLN Government Decision” on different posts.
Well…i just hope God 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…and for Warid…guys, well played, good overall haul, it’s not like u didn’t make any money in this country…but do something like what Singtel did with you…sell yourself to Turkcell or any other telecom, and have a 7.5 % stake in any future sale of the company.
The World in on 4G now and Pakistani cell user still waiting for 3G, i have conversant with my mobile career representative, he said all mobile network companies in Pakistan actually updated with latest technology and ready to launch even 4G network but One by One these selfish governments make delay for it.. :-/
Mr tarar secrdtary IT is an idiot n goofy confused person.
It was revealed that government has decided to accept the spectrum fee and bank guarantees in Pakistani rupees instead of dollars. Moreover, operators will be offered more time to meet rollout obligations.
It’s really a great news and i’m really excited about that because having a 3G/4G device with no 3G/4G enable network is like having everything but nothing O.
Good step and good initiative of Pakistan government. It will bring the broadband internet on your cellphone with video calling facility and other multimedia communication. It will also bring money and jobs in Telecom sector. Hope for the best.
now finally with the best hope on 23/24 april,2014,3g/4g will take start in pakistan
its good achievement for PTA and Pakistan government that they launch both 3g and 4g and see in other countries like Bangladesh they launch just 3g and still there
Welldone PTA n its team
with the full hope that 3/4 g will be auction