The government anticipates raising roughly Rs. 30 billion from the auction of additional 3G/4G spectrum known as Top Up.
According to reliable sources, roughly 15 MHz of spectrum is available for Top Up, and once the cellular providers’ requests are submitted, the government will make the final choice.
According to sources, the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT) has requested spectrum demand from telecom providers within the next two weeks.
According to sources, the Federal Cabinet will form a spectrum auction committee, which would be directed by the Finance Minister.
The government would enable the release of an additional spectrum after receiving agreement from the cabinet’s Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) and the federal cabinet. The additional spectrum would be primarily used to improve service quality. In addition, the release of additional spectrum is expected to generate roughly Rs. 30 billion in non-tax revenue for the government.
Because cellular carriers were hesitant to participate in the latest auction due to high pricing and difficult conditions, the government’s expected revenue prediction of $1 billion was missing.
Secretary of State for Information Technology and Telecommunications, Mohsin Mushtaq Chandna presided over a high-level meeting in the MoITT to review service quality, consumer complaints, and spectrum infrastructure requirements.
Telecom executives, the chairman of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), the executive director of the Frequency Allocation Board, a member of the Telecom MoITT, and other government officials attended the meeting.
Last year, only one out of every four operators participated in an auction for extra spectrum. After three cellular operators declined to participate in the Next Generation Mobile Services (NGMS) spectrum auction, the government only received $279 million, or 33% of the expected amount of $831.8 million, citing the price method as a key stumbling block.
The government sold 70.31 percent of the spectrum in the 1800 MHz band, or 9 MHz out of a total of 12.8 MHz. As much as 3.8 MHz in the 1800 MHz band (excluding the 6.6 MHz sub-judice) and 15 MHz in the 2100 MHz band (base price = $29 million/MHz) were left unsold.
For the 1800MHz band, the government set a basic price of $31 million for 1MHz, and for the 2100MHz band, it set a price of $29 million per 1MHz.
The PTML (Ufone) had bid $279 million for a 9MHz block in the 1800Mhz band, and because no other operators participated in the auction, the total profits from the spectrum auction will be $279 million.