3G / 4G License Award Ceremony on May 22nd: PTA

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Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has confirmed ProPakistani that recently auctioned 3G and 4G licenses will be awarded to four telecom operators in a license award ceremony on May 22nd, 2014.

PTA said that Ufone, Mobilink and Telenor will be awarded with 3G licenses while Zong will be given 3G and 4G licenses.

This license award ceremony and NOC from PTA is being awaited as they are mandatory for telecom operators to commercially launch 3G services in the country.

License award ceremony was subject to advance (or full) payment of spectrum that telecom companies had won during the auction. This ceremony was initially planned for May 10th but was later rescheduled for May 17th, 2014 as mobile phone companies didn’t deposit the upfront payment for the spectrum.

Initial or up front payment was lingered because FBR suddenly asked PTA to collect 10% advance tax in addition to basic license fee. This took industry by surprise as there was no mention of withholding tax collection in 3G and 4G licenses’ IM.

After several rounds of talks, cellular companies somehow agreed to pay 10% of upfront payment as withholding tax.

It merits mentioning here that withholding tax will ultimately get settled by FBR – and will be repaid to the operators or will be levelled against other taxes on operators by the end of fiscal year – but telcos were not willing to pay millions of dollars in addition to what they had to pay as spectrum fee.

Now since the tax issue has been settled, it has been decided that award ceremony will be held on May 22nd 2014.

It merits mentioning here that all operators, except Zong, are offering free 3G services in at least seven cities of the country. These operators are all set to commercially launch the services as soon as licenses and NOC is granted to them from Pakistan Telecommunication Authority.

Tech and telecom reporter for over 15 years


  • Finally .. Lets see now this doesn’t get delayed :P waiting for the packages :)

  • Has operators paid there upfront fees now? because issuance of licening and NOC is still subject to receipt of payment

  • Allah say dua ha k 22nd May ko ab NOC mil jaen companies ko ,,, InSha Allah ,,,

  • Here comes the begining of the Golden age Era of Telecommunication in Pakistan !! So proud of our Nation

    • Golden age of censorship. Youtube, viber, whatsapp, adult websites, music websites… all banned.

      ProTip: if it offends you then simply dont visit that website. Don’t understand why pakistanis are so emotionally retarded.

      • You are right , if your offended by any of online content just dont visit it, but i also disagree with you, it is certainly the Golden Era, if anything gets blocked as you mentioned, just use VPN serives, it will work with 80% of the original speed and you’re good to GO :D

    • Go to the U.S.A., Use GOOGLE OPTICAL FIBER which gives speed up to 1Gbps only at 70$ per month.

      • I agree, spend $1400 for the ticket, then for living in one of the states that offer this, then attach a Ethernet cable to your phone or only connect via wifi in a 50m area.
        Mere bhai comparison tou theek kara karo, faltoo k shashkey.

        • The person, who want this type of fast internet connection, will be rich and not have a problem for him to spend so much $$$.
          Zara Sochye!

        • Good. Hope folks can at least try to see things objectively. Cellular networks are under discussion and suddenly fiber optic pops out. :)

      • I don’t think so! I asked today, ” When will come 4G LTE” (Answer is given in image below)
        Do you have any proof that PTA disapproved Warid’s request for 4G LTE?

            • Ofcourse it is, because Warid needs 2100Mhz 3G license which they didn’t bid for, so they cant lauch directly 4G. Operator Must have 3G license to offer 4G. Warid is misguiding their customers. Only they can improve existing Edge to higher class.

              • There are a total almost 38 countries in the world which are offering 4G LTE in the same range of frequency (1800MHz) then why not Warid can do?. According to my opinion, they would launch 4G LTE on the same day when Zong 4G. Yet, Zong is not ready for 4G. Just wait and see!

                • Exactly , I agree , and secondly @Panda just before commenting you should read first and then comment. Warid has technology neutral lis. which means they dont need lis. , they just need permission from PTA… And if you just go on Warid’s IVR by dialing 321 , they are saying that 4G LTE services will be given soon by Warid. And I think they are not waiting for Zong’s 4G to launch as Zong said clearly that they cannot launch 4G some time sooner. So I think Warid is just waiting for 3G to Launch commercially and then they can just launch 4GLTE :) as I think they will be doing that at the end of May :)

                  • That’s im already telling that WARID CANT LAUNCH BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT 3G.. its PTA who won’t entertain Warid’s request due to their 3G mandatory conditions for 4G. Yes that license is technology neutral but not service neutral so don’t hope for a 4G data “services”. Don’t believe me… visit official FB page of Warid they have removed all 4G ads which were posted weeks ago. They can’t even mention it publicly now. Hope it makes sense. Or you may wait or follow that word “soon”..

                    • Its useless debating with you .. :) I guess one more Warid Hater lol :) We can just wait and watch what happens :)

                    • not a Warid hater, infact it would bring competition between Zong and Warid if Warid gets approval, that’s beneficial for us, the customers… but its matter of fact that you ignored terms and conditions implemented by PTA. Do you really think that a firm can say a Big “No” to its customers, ofcourse not…. So, whenever you going to query it from Warid they always gonna respond you with “soon”, which would help you to continue waiting as loyal user ;) but situation is self explanatory.

        • Bhai G, company k employees to users ko kbhi nhi khaingy na k PTA nhi allow kra.. unho nay to wohi baat kehni hay jo best hay in the favour of the company instead for customer. So is tra questions ka yhi reply mil skta hay apko.. iskay ilawa nhi pos! :)

        • Did you know!
          With MS Paint you can always erase personal info (Name/Designation etc) from an email screenshot you wish to share in public.

  • what a tale of “you scratch my back i scratch yours”. Ishaq Darlar wanted to collect future tax to help reduce budget deficit. I wonder what did he offer in return?

  • what stops Zong from test launch??? system incapability, resource insufficiency or somewhat else? any body to elaborate/

    • There are two ways:
      1. Buy a 3G USB dongle, connect it via PC.
      2. Buy a well-known smart phone (or any 3G compatible phone) and download its PC suite and connect.

        • Then Download NOKIA SUITE: (PLZ Place . instead of dot)

          www(dot)nokia(dot)com/global/support/software-update/nokia-belle-symbian-software-update/

          • If your phone has wifi hotspot feature then there is no need for mobile software. As this make your mobile a wifi router to which you can simply connect your system

    • if you have android phone:

      settings>(more)>tethering and portable hotspot>configure password etc and check portable wi-fi hotspot option

      your phone now acts as wifi router :)

  • In Faisalabad only mobilink offerings free 3g ufone just launched before two days. Where is telenor & zong as well

    • HHAHAHAHAHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHAHAHAHHA Aryyy OO SAMBA CHAL PHIR APNA COMPUTER BAND KR , AUR JAB TV PAY 3G KY PACKAGES DEKHIYOO PHR COMPUTER WAPAS KHOLIYOOOOOOOOOOO

  • The question is, how Zong has prepared for the launch? Will they be able to launch on the same day? No trial for zong users yet!!!

  • Zong is also bringing 4G(LTE) not only 4G as per their FAQs
    www(DOT)zong(DOT)com(DOT)pk/3g

  • > Still confused (there are 5 companies where WARID is all of them who had already a license of 4g LTE), so that’s mean they already have a system to RUN it, if I am not wrong than why still WARID is under the bed they have to wake up & provide some services before all of them (delayed & wait) its directly hit to all potential customers.
    > No doubt LTE 4G is best best & best (but how people can use it (they don’t have handsets of 4G LTE & available handsets are not affordable.
    > Mostly customers can not wait & they will buy the sets for 3G just for taste cz its free in these Days & these customers never returned easily if once they switched.
    > Already WARID is lazy in marketing & extra professional in preparing adds how can they get the benefits from the market….
    haaaaaaa don’t know

    • > Again! If you desire to use 4G LTE or 4G or 3G, it is not necessary to buy expensive phones. 3G-4G dongles will be available at cheap rates.

      > If you are talking about why Warid is not bringing 4G LTE, the answer is same as ZONG 4G LTE (Yet, ZONG 4G LTE is not ready). We should wait till the launch of ZONG 4G LTE..!! We have no other ways. I heard that Warid will launch 4G LTE within 60 days and I asked Warid supporter yesterday, they stated, ” We will launch soon”

      • 4GLTE handset supported phones are not expensive now .. Motorola has just announced its Moto G with 4GLTE supported which will be no more than 23k ;) and plus you can get dongles too as stated above :) so lets wait and watch :) hopefully end of may we will hear from Warid :)

    • well said dear but to compete with other operators warid have to improve its marketing policies other wise such a great network is wasteful due to weak marketing policies .I think warid is coming up with special plans this time.
      >>>>I think PTA force them not to launch service before they collect amounts from other operators .Lets hope for the best because i think warid will provide best services in 4GLTE also.

  • From android phone goto “setting” then “Developer options” tick mark “USB Debugging”, connect your phone to PC using USB cable, now from your mobile goto “setting” then “more” then “Tethering & portable hotspot” and finally Tick mark “USB tethering” You are now connected to 3G network from your PC.


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