DTH Bidding in Pakistan Conclude at 4.898 Billion Per License

By Aamir Attaa | Published Nov 23, 2016 | 12:00 pm

Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority held bidding for auction of three DTH licenses today.

After fierce bid-war of over 15 hours, PEMRA announced three winners as following:

  • Mag Entertainment
  • Shahzad Sky
  • Startimes Communication

Successful bid was announced at Rs. 4.898 billion for single license. All three winners will get DTH license for this same amount.

PEMRA, as a whole, will bag Rs. 14.694 billion as a result of this bidding.

Process had started DTH bidding after Supreme Court issued a short order allowing it to hold the auction. Apex Court, however, said that outcome of bidding will be conditional with High Court’s detailed order.

Final bids were as following:

final

You can check below ProPakistani’s Live coverage on the entire bidding process:

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Aamir Attaa

Tech and telecom reporter for over 15 years


  • Congratulations to all winners. Great efforts by PEMRA for not stopping bid. This continue bidders momentum and faith on Pakistani DTH.
    BTW I will go with Startimes DTH and will check their internet as well.

    • ji bhai bikul zabardarst but I fear ke jitna mehnga sale hoga license utna hi expensive hoga DTH for end-user. Itne paise koi bekar main invest thodi karega, yeh sab clients ke jaib se hi nikalna hai.

        • Honourable Supreme Court of Pakistan has announced in favour of PEMRA. Historic DTH Bidding will start shortly in Islamabad Marriott.

          • Pba said they will not allow to broadcast their channels on pakistani dth. Indian money speaks. If an indian dth starts broadcasting PBA channels they will be more than happy .

            Mark my word in two years time PBA will beg to allow them to be part of pakistani dth. PBA and cable operators are working against the tide (technolgy). Dth and iptv is future. You cannt go against it.

  • zabardast yahaan cable walon ki monoply khatry main par gai hay in jahilo nay kabhi bhi na khud aagay jana hay na kisi ko kuch karnay dena hay

    • aik line ka jawab hai ap ki cable opar jo channel number 1 or 132 may faraq kitnah ai yani picture quality … par DTH may start or end waly sary channel ala quality k hon gay

    • very simple DTH means small dish on your roof and cable is cable DTH can be deployed in remote and hilly area where cable is difficult to deploy as far as quality is consider both can be same now HD boxes in market……finally DTH coverage is entire pakistan …….good buisness

  • Please clear what will happen to cable operators will they still work and what is the procedure to install DTH at home or office. Thank you.

    • cable will work though dth operators will force pemra to strictly regulate it regrading illegal channels especially sports channel whom dth operators will be paying to subscribe, so no. of channels on cable may come down, also dth will be operational from nov 2017 if pemra honors earlier agreement with cable operators so they will have plenty of time to advertise about options and purchase etc

  • Love Nayatel Service, but would be nice to have new players in the game as well. So, I am biased against Nayatel, PTCL and any other provider, which is already serving in Pakistan.

  • The only time one would unconditionally support Absar Alam for going ahead with auction. And for God’s good sake, PTCL? Again? Really? Oh God!

  • LIVE on #Periscope: DTH Bidding second round in progress. The amount has exceeded 700 million Rs.

  • Bhaiyo Cable Operators Association k liye Ek Minute k liye khamoshi ikhteyar karen.
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    It’s Time to DTH YAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY

  • Though I am happy, this is going to bring in so much revenue for the Govt., but at the same time, if someone is going to pay about a Billion Rs. just for the License, it ain’t gonna be cheap for Subscribers…

    • Thats where competition is :D Pemra has already said STB should cost not more than 5K and monthly charges cannot exceed 550Rs. :D

  • Whats the difference between round 1 and round 2? Why round 1 amount was so low and how come PTCL have won that?

  • Current toppers are:

    Mag Entertainment
    Sardar Builders
    Smart Sky

    So These three are in the race .. everyone has stopped bidding :(

  • What the hell happened to Nayatel? i was soo hoping for them to get a license. really disappointed :(

    • They did better than expected ! Its a wise move not to spend too much as their coverage area is very less

  • Fresh offer of PKR 1500 million for single DTH licence. Thumb-up to the bidders dedication #PEMRA

  • PKR 1600 million for single DTH licence. Bidding turns out to be a story of commitment to serve Pakistan #PEMRA

  • This is a proper auction… Base price is 200 million, bidding goes all the way to close to 2 billion or above… The 3g/4g auction was pre-planned, we could’ve fetched more money from that, but it was the need of the hour, and not many investors were in the market. Bye bye to the cable mafia’s Devdas Bollywood Money fetching bullshit… I just hope we can get more channels, watching game of thrones along with the rest of the world would be nice, in proper 1080p

    • it will take time, but yes, we are heading towards the hill, but lot of the progress has to be made after the successful bidding, and yes channel should be in High Quality too. RIP ghatia cable (UPS nahi laga sakty aik,) when light goes out , so does their pitty services.

      • You do realize HBO is locally available for us as HBO Pakistan, it’s even on their website… Once Digital Televison becomes easily available, all they have to do is make some deals, like PTCL did with Netflix

        • HBO is available in Pakistan because ary group get the licsence from Pemra to land it in Pakistan. same goes for axn carteen network nick etc etc

  • just spectacular….To hell with PBA and Cable Mafia…PBA is upset bcz they aren’t the ones who are in the biding

  • @aamir7 aamir bhai one suggestion, incase such events become more prevalent where you have to give minute by minute updates , i would suggest you guys to implement some live-blog or live-update system which doesn’t require users to refresh the page to view new content. Its quite cumbersome to refresh every few minutes to get the latest status of the story or press event.

  • The money PTCL is pouring in to buy a DTH license, if utilised for improving Quality of Service, would have made earned them a great deal of respect and revenue but somethings can’t change…

  • Alas! this should have been done many many many years ago, but (dair ayy durust ayy), at least they are stepping in now, but a lot to work on.

  • Maza Aa Rha hai Cable Walo Kuttooo Hramyo Rok Lo Ab Humain Hum Urr Rahy Hain Chawlo

    :D

  • Unbelievable, more than 2.5 Billion for single licence. No body is like to give up on this auction. Anyway keep it up. Good job #PEMRA

  • They should defer it on tomorrow morning, we are done up to check update by ProPakistani, very appreciatable role by ProPakistani team.

  • This is going dirt cheap you guys, no reason to celebrate. PKR 3-4 billion per license 50% in the first month and the rest in 10 years.

    They will make more than that from Karachi only;

    Population of Karachi (offical) < 10,000,000
    10,000,000 / 2 (say half get DTH service) = 5,000,000
    5,000,000 / 4 (divided by a family of 4) = 1,250,000

    So an estimate 1,250,000 DTH connections are sold in Karachi only.

    Max initial price for a family to get started: 5,000

    5,000 * 1,250,000 = PKR 6,250,000,000

    So more than 6 billion PKR of revenue from Karachi only. If half of Karachi gets DTH.

  • Bangladesh issued two DTH licenses in 2013 with a price of 2 crores taka (PKR 26400000) each. Question is why the license price in Pakistan so high as compare to Bangladesh?

  • SO GOOD TO SEE NAYATEL BACK IN ACTION. REALLY HOPE THEY GET IT. AND KUDOOS TO PRO PAKISTANI FOR SUCH PROMPT UPDATES. BRAVO!

  • 80% people in Pakistan are living in rent houses and they don’t own the roof, where will they fix the DTH antenna? This DTH service will be failed in Pakistan.

  • bhai g buht profitable bussness hye one time investment haye koe bhi company jo bid mn shamil hye 10 billion tak easily ja sakti
    agr 30 million connections bhi sale hoty hain
    10 million each for a company
    10 million x 500/per month = 5.E8
    uff agr mere pass itny paisy hoty mn bhi aik kharedta…
    koe bhi itny paisy kamany ka mouqa nhi jany dena chah raha

        • The top 3 company’s who offer most money will get the license… their is no limit…It’s ‘booli’ in Punjabi but their won’t be a one winner….their will be three

          • I understand this. But the bell ringing and one minute and 4 minute thing. I don’t get it

            • They are giving 5 minutes to make a new bid…bell rings at the start of five minutes, than it rings again after 4 minutes to warn them that you have 1 minute left to call a new bid

    • With DTH, customers in any part of Pakistan, will be able to enjoy digital channels through a small dish antenna to be placed at roof tops.

      DTH is not only going to be better in quality but will bring more channels to Pakistani consumers.

      If you want to understand better, these DTH services will be like those Indian services that PEMRA blocked few months ago.

      Technically speaking, there are chances that Pakistani DTH services will also be available in Afghanistan, part of India and in Iran as well.

  • A dreams come true for those who live in so far rural areas.
    I was waiting for this time since a long period.
    Thanks #Pemra

  • *Our editor just woke up and was quick to inform me that there’s a typo in title, i.e. its saying 3.6 billion instead of million.

    I had to shock him that bid has gone in billions indeed.*

    hahahah amir bhai u rock

  • Yar yaha aik baat mili juli dekhny may a rahi hai k itna pasa govt ko de gay or pher hum awam sy lay gay… Yar ap log bhool jaty ho jasy 3g or 4g ki boli hoi to wo bhi to asy he gaye bus yar 3 log aye gay jo DTH lay gay ab aik ny agar rate 550 rakha to 2nd wala 500 rakhy ga or 3rd wala 450 soo ap ko ufone ka 3g mahnga lagy to zong lo ni to jazz ni to telenor same to same hai service jab aye gi to ap ko start may trial zaror mily ga ap rate dekho ni to kam sy kam 1 sy 3 month wait kro packages dekhowasy kafi mulko may dth par day k hesab sy hai kahi to 50 channels k sath hai kahi 450 channels k sath hai kahi apni marzi k channels k sath hai soo yar daro ni pakistan k hesab sy ho ga comapny walo ny 15 saal rakhna hai aik achi khasi mudat hai 1 saal may ya 1 month may to company ny pasa ni nikalwana soo ap hosla karo aik bar service a jaye pher ap is tara dil chota karna abhi ni…. Jaha 12 saal ho gay hein he dth ko ab waha hum abhi boli may he rona start ho gay… So cool down

  • “We are entering into 10th hour of non-stop bidding. PEMRA to raise at least Rs. 12 billion from today’s auction. That’s around US 100 Dollars. Biddnigs are still going on.” Typos all round > someone must be getting tired !

  • O bhai kitni bidding ho gi. Faltu paisa ha in k pass. Kia faida ye Paisay to sab govt. kha jae gi. Awam k lye phr b kch ni hona HD channels(waste of time) k alawa.

  • Absar alam thinks cable operators will break the door of the hotel and stop the bidding process let’s do bidding all night ??? this is just foolish

  • Yar ye LIVE coverage to na hui. Bar bar page refresh kro 10, 10 minute baad text update ati ha. Iss se acha tha Youtube pe Live streaming detay.

  • Is it good for us awaam to go bid this high??? All I say is, “I can’t afford 1000 rs/month for DTH right!”.

    • It’s not just that We won’t be able to pay, the cable operators will have to upgrade their system to Digital…PEMRA is trying to make competition…plus they are buying it for 15 years…they will easily get their money back

  • Jana is name of young girl which is student of M.PHIL Psycology in Govt College University old faisalabad . Belong from Rahim Yar Khan . Her E-Mail Address is , [email protected] Jana is interested in me but says that any girl will walk with you when you will be settle . (Dr Tariq Rasheed phone-0412625463)

  • Thanks for the excellent coverage. I think you were the only website that was covering this event live. And congrats to the successful bidders, hopefully they will bring a digital media revolution to the country. Btw, glad to see PeeTCL missing out.

  • Yar yaha aik baat mili juli dekhny may a rahi hai k itna pasa govt ko de gay or pher hum awam sy lay gay… Yar ap log bhool jaty ho jasy 3g or 4g ki boli hoi to wo bhi to asy he gaye bus yar 3 log aye gay jo DTH lay gay ab aik ny agar rate 550 rakha to 2nd wala 500 rakhy ga or 3rd wala 450 soo ap ko ufone ka 3g mahnga lagy to zong lo ni to jazz ni to telenor same to same hai service jab aye gi to ap ko start may trial zaror mily ga ap rate dekho ni to kam sy kam 1 sy 3 month wait kro packages dekhowasy kafi mulko may dth par day k hesab sy hai kahi to 50 channels k sath hai kahi 450 channels k sath hai kahi apni marzi k channels k sath hai soo yar daro ni pakistan k hesab sy ho ga comapny walo ny 15 saal rakhna hai aik achi khasi mudat hai 1 saal may ya 1 month may to company ny pasa ni nikalwana soo ap hosla karo aik bar service a jaye pher ap is tara dil chota karna abhi ni…. Jaha 12 saal ho gay hein he dth ko ab waha hum abhi boli may he rona start ho gay… So cool down

  • Great coverage worth of appreciation……
    Surprised to see smart sky out of the game but fear that they might reenter like Warid did without paying anything…
    Feeling pity for Sardar Builders….

    • This is not the case here. They can never launch DTH without license. But they can improve their smart tv like they can improve their DSL, their Evo, their Vfone, their phone lines their bla bla

        • I have fibre optic network in my area at Faisalabad. And believe me PTCL DSL on fibre optic is as shity as it can.

  • I don’t think in terms ROI this 5bn thing is gonna work for Investor in the meanwhile. Great for Pakistan though..

    • All these bidding companies have top notch financial analysts at their disposal who tell these companies about the huge business potential of Pakistan media market. Muft mei itna paisa koi commit nahi kerta yar, they see a huge ROI potential from this 5bn investment that is why they bid that amount in the first place.

    • Other telecom companies thought same when Zong got 4G as well with 3G. They thought there are no 4G phones and no one will use 4G. Now look

  • I am still not clear, what is DTH, and how will they work…. Can anybody explain..!!

    Thanks.

    • Direct-To-Home service in Pakistan.

      The DTH service is worked by the linking of TV transmission from the station to the set top box of viewers at their homes through the satellite. There are millions of Pakistani subscribers, who get the DTH service from abroad and they pay the dues to the companies, which provide their services to them. with this DTH service, you can get better picture quality, better sound and more TV channels and the breakdown during the transmission will also be less if it is compared to the traditional cable TV

  • so who are behind the winners..? startimes is chinese what about other two ? who owns them?
    Amir Bhai ke liye taliyan!!!

  • website to pehle hi publish kar di thi PTCL ne jese sub se pehle license inko hi milna hai yeh to billi k khuwaab me cheechre wala scene hogya PTCL k saath

  • Bro DTH doesn,t need any internet connection.it works like dish tv. just required set top box & small antenna on roof top.

  • Govt should also invest in education also. So peoples like you have some knowledge first instead of bashing. What is the connection between internet and dth. Ap ke dish tv dsl pay chalti thi kia :)

  • ‘Mubarik ho’ all three winers and best wishes for providing superior services. Well done PEMRA.

  • Well done! Finally we’re getting our own DTH service. India is going to lose millions of Rupees, nobody will use Indian DTH if they introduce attractive and reasonable packages.

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