PTA Accused of Delaying 3G Auction

PTA-logoPakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) is delaying the auction for 3G licenses – which is likely to generate up to one billion dollar for the federal government – by not issuing finalized date for auction, Secretary Information Technology Farooq Awan told Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the National Assembly yesterday.

The newly elected chairman of the committee, Nadeem Afzal Gondal, chaired the PAC meeting. The meeting reviewed the audit accounts of telecommunication sector for 2004-05 and 2006-07.

The secretary for information technology alleged that despite giving assurance to Ministry of Information Technology, the PTA did not appoint consultant for the valuation of 3G licenses, which the government had earlier planned to auction in March 2012.

It was revealed that Prime Minister had been told on December 19, 2011 that 3G auction would be held on March 29th, 2012 and that a consultant would be appointed till that time.

“But no consultant has so far been hired by the PTA after expiry of 80 days at a time when the government is desperate for cash,” secretary remarked.

It maybe recalled that mobile operators always wanted to avoid 3G auction. We have covered a timeline for major events in past few months regarding 3G. ProPakistani’s complete coverage for 3G auction can be found here.

Via BR


  • All lies! The government whose tenure is completing needs this money to be put in their pockets! So its better if the auction happens after the PPP is gone!

    No end user is so desperate to have 3G this soon, and it gives operators quite some time to figure out their strategies.

    The only loss in this situation is to money grabbers and people who’ve been minting money off such auctions.

    Na tou PTA equipped hai tou conduct this auction on its own, and na ye government itni sachi k paisey ko theek use kerein ge!

  • 3G 3G 3G
    Roti Kapra aur Makan Still Non Existent
    3G 3G 3G
    Societies are not known by 3G Technology They Have
    Rather
    By its Population Welfare.
    The Blog is Boring Now A Days ,

    Every 2nd Day a News of 3G.

  • Never think about this bullsh*t. Forget there would be 3G even in year 2013 :)

    Installed an external omni-directional (WiFi) antenna, range upto 1~2km =D

      • TP-LINK External Antenna would work best for you! It’ll cost you around Rs.3000 plus a 300+Mbps router and Access Point (with detachable antenna) worth Rs.3000 and Rs.2500 respectively and some connectors and cables will cost you a total of Rs.9000~10,000

        P.S. According to what I’ve installed.

        • I already have, TPlink w740n, that covers my whole house.

          According to my findings no antenna/AP will be able to give coverage of 1 KM directly to mobile. Could you please tell me those specific models. Thanks

  • I always say and will always say, ‘PTA is good for nothing’!!!. Just remove this body…

    • ok, lets assume the body is removed but soon you will see another body form with same aims and objectives and the same people will be running them.

  • PTA is doing its best as Raja perviaz wants to do a lot of corruption and i stand in favor of PTA this is the best staergy against these corrupt people

    • Here comes PTA’s chamcha!!! Aamir bhai has repeatedly said that the Information Memorandum issued by PTA earlier for the auction of 3G was full of errors. What the HELL PTA is doing??? They are realllllllllllllly good for nothing….. This body must be erased because they are a huge burden on national exchequer.

      • Firstly let me correct you. No body is any body’s Chamcha just because they dn’t agree with you. That dealt with we can move on against the allegation that PTA is realllllllllllllly good for the following;
        1. An honest Chairman who really doesn’t give two hoots for the corruption potential the 3G deal may hold.
        2. Information Memorandum was NOT full of errors. It Was full of “erroneous expectations” that there would be fair dealing with the license so auctioned. It was later learnt to bifurcate 3G, 4G and LTE to gain multiple Auction lottery.

        3. To think of the betterment of the Licensees as a top man. Implying that If any hitches were raised, they had to be addressed for the industry.

        If the body was erased my dear you would still be using PTCL’s local loop at Rs.10/min. Why don’t you relocate to America and observe what prices Communication spells over there.
        The Chairman’S leadership won the most progressive Telecom Regulators award for doing SOMETHING (Corruption not included), however with Raja Sahab any thing is possible…I happen to know Mr. Yaseen professionally.

  • Pro pak really needs a break from this 3G crap…. its like they cry wolf every 2 days…

  • There is a mistake in the date mentioned in the below given paragraph. The was March 29th,2012 not 2011. See this paragraph

    “It was revealed that Prime Minister had been told on December 19, 2011 that 3G auction would be held on March 29th, 2011 and that a consultant would be appointed till that time.”

  • Forget about expecting 3G from this govt… dunya 5G ki taraf ja rahi hai hai aur ye june 2013 mein 3G lanay ka soch rahay hain… the truth remains the same that politicians ne pak ko kuch ni diya… pichlay 4 saal se koi new mobile company bhi nai ai…

    I sincerely believe, agr Musharraf ki hakumat ab tk hoti to pak main ab 4G hota, simple GPRS free hota aur pak ki economy bhi theek hoti….!!!

    • Just for the sake of your information:
      There is no 5G in the world at the moment….As per the 3GPP standards, even true 4G is not ready yet. What the world is deploying right now is 3.9G

      True 4G should have a data rate of 1Gbps

      3.9G which is being deployed all over the world has 100Mbps data rate. Maximum 200Mbps with MIMO technology.

      • Well said Mr. Waqar. At last, I found someone who knows what he is talking about.

        Moreover just a clarification to Mr. Yasir’s comment that “dunya 5G ki taraf ja rahi hai hai aur ye june 2013 mein 3G lanay ka soch rahay hain”,

        Like Mr Waqar said currently the world is gearing up for LTE (3.9G system – although this isn’t official terminology by 3GPP), anyhow, 3G system does not necessarily means R99 system (basic 3.84 Mbps) but we can have HSPA+ system which runs on the same 3G spectrum. The MNOs can easily skip the R99 systems (which I definitely think they will because it doesn’t makes any sense having old R99 systems) and go for the advanced R5/R6 (still pretty good in terms of achievable throughput) or the more advanced HSPA (R7) system.
        I was reading in PTA’s Ad (dated 23th Jan), that the spectrum they are auctioning at 1900/2100 band is technology independent. So the incumbent or Entrant MNO can also go for LTE system.


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