Anusha Rehman, Minister for State for Telecom and IT, has hinted another round of 3G/4G spectrum auction in near future during her meeting with Turkish Ambassador H.E S. Babur Girgin yesterday.
This marked as first official attempt from the minister for next potential spectrum auction that Pakistan may undergo in next six to twelve months.
Anusha Rehman briefed the Turkish Ambassador about the successful 3G/4G spectrum auction by government in 2014. She emphasized about the tremendous uptake of next-gen services by masses and — like we just noted yesterday — operators are already eyeing for more spectrum due to increased demand.
Anusha, at this point, reveled that government is now intending for another round of spectrum auction in coming months.
“As market forces have already expressed their appetite for more spectrum, we intend to hold a next round of Spectrum auction in near future”, noted Ms. Rehman.
Sensing the opportunity and with an urge to invite Turkish telecom operators to Pakistan, Anusha also briefed the ambassador about one special lot of 850Mhz spectrum that government intends to sell to a new operator, which — according to Minister — is going to be a golden opportunity for new entrant to step into lucrative Pakistani market.
It won’t be out of place to mention that Pakistan Telecommunication Authority is seeking consultants for next round of spectrum auction, however, no one was selected in response to an advertisement that PTA published earlier this year.