The ministry of IT and Telecom has released the date for the auction of spectrum auction. It was left unsold during the last NGMS auctions in 2014 and 2016. The policy framework has been finalized by the advisory committee and is approved by the Cabinet. The auction will be held for the one single block of 10 MHz of paired spectrum in 1800 MHz band. After the thorough inspection of the local and international market prices and demands, the base rate of the spectrum has been set at USD 295 Million.
The need for the Spectrum
Due to the Spectrum auctions, the mobile broadband usage increased from mere 3% to 27%. This demands a better quality broadband spectrum so that more and more people joining the networks can get better quality services.
Advisory committee by PM Pakistan
To achieve the demands of the industry, an advisory committee was set up by the PM Nawaz Sharif under Minister of State for IT Miss Anusha Rehman. The aim of the committee was to judge the needs and prices in the market. The recommendations were finalized by the committee in its last meeting.
Detail of auction and license
Directing the policy to the PTA, the committee advised that an auction must be designed in which all existing companies will be eligible to participate. The auction will be conducted in this financial year and the terms and conditions will remain same as they were in 2014 and 2016. The license will be given for the next 15 years.
This auction of the spectrum will help the companies to expand their network to every corner of the companies without having to compromise on the quality of the network.
