About a month back, we told you about the future of 3G and 4G services in Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. Now, further developments have surfaced that indicates the next 3G/4G auction happening within few months. Mr. Ishaq Dar, Minister Finance, has asked PTA and MoIT to complete their preparations for next 3G/4G auction.
As reported by ProPakistani, Ishaq Dar emphasized on the point that Government has budgeted the revenues from auctioning the spectrum for this fiscal year. The ongoing fiscal year will complete by June 2016. It means we can expect next 3G/4G auction before June 2016. Recently, Anusha Rehman, State Minister for IT and Telecom, met few new entrant companies in this regard however, no solid response was received.
From the last year’s auction, there is one 4G license and one from 850 MHz band still left over. PTA is in efforts to sell these two licenses first. No further details are there regarding the upcoming 3G/4G auction. As per reports, a policy will be drafted by MoIT and PTA regarding the specifications of the spectrum to be sold. Afterwards, the policy will be developed into Information Memorandum (IM) that will comprise of the base price, auction mode and other detailed aspects of the auction.
Hopefully, this 3G/4G auction will also bring the next generation services to AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan. What are your thoughts on the upcoming 3G/4G auction?
