Telenor, Mobilink, Ufone and Zong are submitting their sealed bids for 3G and 4G licenses today to leave behind Warid, the only operator in the market to have not participated in the bidding process.
Market sources confirmed ProPakistani that four operators are submitting their sealed bids today in order to qualify for the final bidding process to be held on April 23rd, 2014.
Unlike it was speculated earlier, there is no new entrant submitting the sealed-bid today, leaving only four operators to compete in the spectrum auction.
There are a total of three 3G and two 4G licenses to be auctioned, however, there is a possibility under which four operators might get 3G licenses.
Warid will remain the only local operator to have not participated in the bid. As anticipated, it is likely that rest of the four operators are likely to get equipped with at least 3G license.
10Mhz block of 3G spectrum (2100Mhz) is base priced at US295 million while a block of 10Mhz block from 4G spectrum (1800Mhz) is base priced at US210 million.
As per the plan, today (4PM – Pakistan Time) is the deadline for operators to submit the sealed bids.
In today’s sealed bids, operator will show their interest in amount and type of spectrum they want to buy in the bidding. A upper floor of 15Mhz for 3G spectrum and 10Mhz for 4G spectrum is applicable.
Operators – along with bid application — will submit pre-bid deposit for 15% of the base price of the amount of spectrum they stated in their Sealed-bid offer in order to qualify to participate in the auction.
Qualified operators will move on to next round of bidding to be held on April 23rd, 2014.
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority will notify about the qualified bidders on April 17th, 2014.
Pakistan is aiming to generate at least US 1.305 billion dollars from the auction.