Pakistan's 3G, 4G auction draws disappointing bids

[Chak Bamu]

"Don't count your chickens before they hatch"

 

[Samlee]

I really hope that Dar postpones this auction. This is beyond ridiculous and smells of heavy corruption. Simply not acceptable. Period!

This Is Not Surprising Since PML N Has Not Had A Good Reputation With Foreign Investors.Remember When Benazir Got FDI worth Billion of Dollars Under Power Policy 1994 Hydel Power Policy 1995 Transmission Policy 1995 into The Country,Nawaz Government Chased All of Them Away and Now We Have Worst Loadshedding.
Then What About Keti Bandar Project of Gordon Wu and The Special Industrial Zones.Union Texas Workers Were Killed In Karachi When He Was In Power.In Her 1995 Trip Benazir Bhutto Had Brought Investment Worth Billions of Dollars But After This Incident They All Went Away.
43 Companies Offered To Build Gwadar Port on BOT Basis But He Unilaterally Cancelled The Process.
And To Top It All Off,He Froze All Forex Accounts.Not Even Nationalisation Had Not Damaged Pakistan So Much As This Act

 

[Pukhtoon]

I already said this will fail.. No consistency in government policies. Still YouTube and other sites are banned. Even **** sites are also banned....
Only mad people will invest in 3G and 4G here.
This mental government is expecting 5, or 6 billion $ from this auction.
This is not possible when you have tiny mind IT minister "Anusha rehman"...She is black spot on IT sector.

lol When i m sad for something i used to write it like this in the End ..... few dots lol So

 

[Gautam]

They should invite AT&T, Sprint or Verizon. US has always helped Pakistan economically.

 

[my2cents]

I really hope that Dar postpones this auction. This is beyond ridiculous and smells of heavy corruption. Simply not acceptable. Period!

In India a number of politicians and govt. officers including telecom minister A. Raja went to jail for previous sale of 2G spectrum which was tainted with corruption. Our supreme court cancelled all the licences that were issued and asked fresh auction be implemented.

So, we conducted fresh auctions in 22 circles and was able to raise 13 billion dollars for 2G spectrum. Since we are 5 times your population expecting 2 billion for your 3G spectrum is reasonable. Our 3G spectrum auction had below warm response... I believe raised only 11 billion dollars.

 

[PakEye]

They should invite AT&T, Sprint or Verizon. US has always helped Pakistan economically.

American never provide help without their National Interest.

 

[PakEye]

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s top telecommunication authority has rubbished reports of a dismal response to the long-awaited auction of next-generation cellphone spectrum licences for which bids were submitted on Monday.

According to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, the response received from four existing cellular mobile operators of Pakistan was “very encouraging and satisfactory for the PTA.”

Pakistan is set to hold long-awaited auctions for 3G and 4G network licences on April 23, a step the government projects will raise $2 billion to boost the country’s foreign reserves.

A report by foreign news agency Reuters had claimed that scant interest in Monday’s bid submission process would have enabled Pakistan to raise no more than $850 million, much lower than the projected $2 billion


A spokesperson rejected the claim, saying the PTA had already issued an official statement on April 14 stating the demand was higher than the supply and the auction would go through on the scheduled date of April 23.

It is “a matter of commonsense that had there been less or even same demand from operators, there would have been no reason to go for the auction on April 23, and bidders would have the spectrum straight away,” he said.

Related: Govt lays down payment schedule for 3G/4G auction

According to the PTA, the base price for the auction of three 3G licences has been set at $295 million, and four out of five cellular mobile companies operating in Pakistan submitted bids.

“It is entirely wrong to say that no cellular mobile operator has shown interest in 4G (1800 MHz),” added the spokesperson.

The base price for the 4G LTE licence has been set at $210 million.

The Reuters report claimed Telecom companies Mobilink and Zong bid for 10 MHz. Telenor and Ufone both bid for 5 MHz.

“There are four available 3G blocks in 1800 MHz: two 10 MHz and two 5 MHz. The base price for 10 MHz block is $291 Million and 5 MHz is $146 million,” the news agency quoted a finance ministry official reportedly present at the process on Monday.

The PTA also rejected this claim.

According to the information memorandum issued the bid submission on Monday, no operator could bid for 5MHz, and the minimum slot for which bid could be submitted was 10 MHz.

The PTA also denied that a representative of the finance ministry was present during the bid submission.

Pakistan is the only major country in the region that still does not offer 3G services. Its neighbour, war-ravaged Afghanistan, switched to 3G services in 2012.

There are about 132 million mobile phones in use in Pakistan, a country of 180 million people, according to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority.

Pakistan's telecommunications market was deregulated in 2004 and foreign firms such as Etisalat have invested heavily in recent years.

The finance ministry said in February that Pakistan would sell both the 3G and the more advanced 4G LTE spectrum. Selling just 3G licences could raise $2 billion, and bundling them with 4G spectrum could generate between $4 billion and $5 billion, finance minister Ishaq Dar had estimated.

A government-commissioned study by Plum Consulting estimates the 3G spectrum auction would raise Pakistan's gross domestic product by $8 billion and indirectly create up to 900,000 new jobs.

PTA dispels reports of dismal response to 3G, 4G auction - DAWN.COM

 

[khanboy007]

i dont think its bad but at least 1 billion $ would have been good

there was a chance of it getting better though,

i comment further based on the response shown by companies

they should move ahead with 3G check out the responses and then give another tender for 4G LTE, for now they should scrap the idea of introducing 4G LTE perhaps it could be sought later

unblock youtube as well

 

[Sam Manekshaw]

I already said this will fail.. No consistency in government policies. Still YouTube and other sites are banned. Even **** sites are also banned....
Only mad people will invest in 3G and 4G here.
This mental government is expecting 5, or 6 billion $ from this auction.
This is not possible when you have tiny mind IT minister "Anusha rehman"...She is black spot on IT sector.

Everything ok but why ban porno?

 

[ziaulislam]

thread should be closed, as PTA has officially denounced the news explaining that four bids for 3G liscence at baseline price and bids for 4g were also received, meaning govt will easily get 1.3 billion dollars of target but below the hopeful no. of 2 billion dollars(as no new bidder for 2G license and thus no bidder for new 3g or 4g)

 

[Raja.Pakistani]

It is better in a way, too much of initial cost would increase the usage cost for customers.

And disinterest in 4G services is understandable, 4G is primarily a data service for laptops, very few 4G mobiles exist today, and almost all are in the high price range catering to a small market.

We have 4G in UK but its useless because they dont give you much mobile data on 4G tariffs while you can get cheap 3G deals with unlimited data usage that can also use for tethering to connect others WiFi devices including laptop.

 

[Samlee]

They should invite AT&T, Sprint or Verizon. US has always helped Pakistan economically.

American never provide help without their National Interest.

Read My Post #17 Americans Had Signed MoUs Worth Billions of Dollars During Benazir's Second Tenure and Nawaz Chased Them Away I Can Give You Details But Bottom Line Is If You study The Past PML N Governments They Have Not Been Friendly to FDI

Everything ok but why ban porno?

 

[Peaceful Civilian]

Everything ok but why ban porno?

Two words.
Stupid Government...

 

[livingdead]

We have 4G in UK but its useless because they dont give you much mobile data on 4G tariffs while you can get cheap 3G deals with unlimited data usage that can also use for tethering to connect others WiFi devices including laptop.

4g tarrif will take time to come down to affordable level, is not three giving free 4g? (I mean not charging extra for 4g signal, if you are on unlimited data tariff it still remains unlimited)

 

[Fracker]

Sorry for my illiteracy, what is Bid for License of 3G? Will that means only one company will operate 3G in the country or each company will get license, but those with less bid will get it late. So those who came early can take advantage?

1st thing don't make sense to me, but in case of second, Government can Generate more 1.2 Billion out of this anyway. And I think 1.2 Billion for such an old technology isn't bad at all. They should target 4G for revenue.