ISLAMABAD: Five proposals from foreign consultants have been submitted to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to manage the nation’s 5G spectrum auction; the process is anticipated to be finished within the current fiscal year.
Industry participants, however, have voiced reservations regarding the auction’s timing and the appropriateness of moving forward with the 5G deployment at this time.
The telecom regulator said in a statement on Monday that it had received financial and technical bids from five foreign consultants for the next-generation mobile services auction in Pakistan: National Economic Research Associates Inc., Aetha Consulting Limited, Detecon Consulting FZ-LLC, Frontier Economics Limited, and KomKonsult (Private) Limited.
The Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) regulations will be followed, the PTA promised, after a thorough review of these bids.
Procedure is anticipated to be finished in the current fiscal year.
The National Assembly Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunications was recently advised by PTA Chairman Hafeezur Rehman, a retired major general, that the 5G spectrum auction was being considered and would probably happen by March 2025.
Nonetheless, there have been notable differences of opinion within the government throughout the process. The finance ministry has pushed on creating fierce competition among telecom carriers in order to maximize the value of the auction, despite some IT ministry officials supporting the release of extra spectrum for 5G at low costs to boost growth. The finance minister is in charge of the advisory group that monitors the auction procedure.
Leaders in the industry contend that Pakistan’s IT and telecom sectors have not grown rapidly enough in recent years and that the nation is now dealing with a new problem called “digital load-shedding,” which involves the suspension of mobile internet and telecom services during blackouts. The nation’s skepticism over the country’s future digitalization has intensified in light of recent disruptions to internet and mobile data services as well as limitations on certain social media platforms.
Amir Ibrahim, the CEO of Jazz, has been a strong opponent of Pakistan’s rollout of 5G, claiming that the nation hasn’t yet fully utilized the capabilities of its current 4G network. Mr. Ibrahim said at a recent seminar that telecom companies are not as excited about 5G as consumers are, who see it as just faster internet and governments as a potentially lucrative auction opportunity.
Zong, Jazz, Telenor, and Ufone are among the major mobile operators in the nation that have successfully completed 5G trials and are currently using 274 MHz of spectrum. However, an additional 300 MHz of spectrum will have to be put up for auction in order to launch commercial 5G services.
Given that Telenor has already made the decision to leave Pakistan, the PTA may face less competition in the market when the 5G spectrum auction takes place. The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) is now reviewing a deal in which the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) is buying out Telenor Pakistan’s shares.
