Pakistan's 3G/4G spectrum auction on Apr 23

[Saifullah Sani]

First round of 3G, 4G sprectrum licenses auction concludes

The first round of auction process for 3G and 4G spectrum licenses concluded on Wednesday with the four competing companies bidding the base price of $1.3 billion, DawnNews reported.

Chairman Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Dr Syed Ismail Shah told Dawn that the first round of the license auction process had concluded.

He added that the base price of $1.305 billion was bid for the auction and the second round of auction, which will begin shortly, would begin with a two per cent addition to the base price.

A screen shot of the PTA.gov website displaying the outcome of the first round of the bidding process
Three 10 MHz 3G licences and two 10 MHz 4G licences are under auction today.

The base price for a 3G licence is $295 million and for a 4G licence it’s $210m.

Mobile phone companies can bid for one 10MHz bandwidth licence or the entire spectrum, comprising three 10MHz licences (a total bandwidth of 30MHz).

The four companies participating in the bidding had earlier logged on to the software of the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) for the process.

According to PTA officials, the four bidders were assigned different colours, and each bidder would bid through the colour allotted to them instead of through their respective names.

The PTA expects to receive more than $1.3 billion from the auction.

The introduction of 3G and 4G spectrum in the telecom sector is expected to revolutionise the way subscribers stay connected.

4G provides even faster speeds and ultra-broadband services, putting data-intensive services such as online gaming, high definition mobile TV and video conferencing within the reach of the average consumer.

For consumers, the auction will not immediately translate into the advent of 3G connectivity on their mobile phones. In fact, the timeframe agreed upon between the PTA and mobile operators envisions 3G roll out within six months of the auction.

In the first phase, services will be available in Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta and later on in other cities from each of the four provinces.

The second phase, which will start a year and a half after the auction, envisions the expansion of 3G services to about 80 more cities. In the third phase, which will begin about four years from now, 90 per cent of all tehsil headquarters will have access to 3G services.

First round of 3G, 4G sprectrum licenses auction concludes - DAWN.COM

 

[forcetrip]

Auction Link

Spectrum Auction Results - Next Generation Mobile Services in Pakistan

 

[rmi5]

Auction Link

Spectrum Auction Results - Next Generation Mobile Services in Pakistan

it is a good progress.
BTW, do you know that which telecommunication companies(operators) are competing in this Auction? are Turkcell or MTN participating?

 

[Pakistanisage]

What was the outcome of the Auction ?

Anyone knows ?

 

[Rashid Mahmood]

What was the outcome of the Auction ?

Anyone knows ?

ISLAMABAD: The four cellular service providers bidding on licences for next generation mobile technology emerged the winners of Wednesday’s bidding war, with Mobilink, Telenor and Ufone picking up licences for 3G services while Zong being the only bidder to acquire a licence for both 3G and 4G services.

Mobilink and Zong bid for the ‘superior’ 10MHz band, while Telenor and Ufone preferred to bid on the cheaper 5MHz band. Although Mobilink, having acquired the 10MHz band, qualified for a 4G licence too, they opted not to go all the way.

This means one 4G licence is still up for grabs. Minister of State for Information Technology Anusha Rehman said that the licence would soon go under the hammer again.

Bidding began at 10am and continued until a little after 7pm at the Marriott Hotel. Bidders competed in eight rounds of 45 minutes each. A total of four 3G licences were auctioned and both Telenor and Ufone got the ‘shorter end’ of the spectrum.

“It was a strategic decision. We want to provide internet services for all our customers but at low costs. The 5MHz frequency is all that is required at the moment,” said Telenor Pakistan Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Muhammad Aslam Hayat.

Ufone had also shown an interest in acquiring both 3G and 4G licences, but on the day, they did not qualify. Under PTA rules, Ufone has to purchase the 10MHz band to be eligible for a 4G licence.

According to a Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) spokesperson, cellular companies with weaker frequencies would have to install more booster towers in their coverage areas, depending on how many cities they wanted to cover.

 

[Saifullah Sani]

What was the outcome of the Auction ?

Anyone knows ?

3G spectrum licenses auction concludes:Live Updates | Page 6

 

[forcetrip]

Results from a couple of secs ago.

Speedtest.net by Ookla - My Results

it is a good progress.
BTW, do you know that which telecommunication companies(operators) are competing in this Auction? are Turkcell or MTN participating?

They were supposed to but did not participate. My guess is they were asking for advantages and concessions over the existing players.

 

[Rashid Mahmood]

PTA had received bids from four existing Cellular Mobile Operators (CMOs) on April 14, 2014 for 1800 MHz and 2100 MHz Spectrum. After scrutiny of submitted bids all four operators China Mobile(Zong), Mobilink, PTML (Ufone) and Telenor Pakistan qualified for the bidding.

 

[aakalim]

Only ZONG got the 4g licence for now but I think there is one more 4g licence left.

The important question is how long will it take for these companies to roll out the services to the public.?

 

[forcetrip]

Only ZONG got the 4g licence for now but I think there is one more 4g licence left.

The important question is how long will it take for these companies to roll out the services to the public.?

My mobilink 3g is working as we speak.

 

[aakalim]

My mobilink 3g is working as we speak.

Is this available for everyone or a select few..?

 

[saiyan0321]

I am glad we have integrated 4G technology. Have been listening abt it for over a year now. Glad my network got the 4G

 

[forcetrip]

Is this available for everyone or a select few..?

No idea. I think they have put up select towers to through out 3g signals on testing basis. Mine has been on the whole day.

 

[Comrade]

The question when will be 3G / 4G will be available to users in Pakistan? world is already using 4G LTE and preparing for 5G and we are just going for 3G & 4G with slow speed.

My friend who told 5G to be implemented? its still experimental and in beyond 2020 mobile communications technologies will be able to use 5G.
Always research well when you talk about some thing 3G and 4G are still the best mobile technologies any where in the world.

 

[Saifullah Sani]

China mobile Zong wins Pakistan's 3G, 4G spectrum

Pakistan raised 1.1 billion U.S. dollars in its first auction for 3G and 4G mobile phone networks on Wednesday and China Mobile Pakistan, or Zong, emerged the sole winner of Pakistan 4G spectrum license and one of four winners of the country's 3G spectrum licenses.

The auction was held at a local hotel in the presence of the international and local media people and hundreds of the representatives of mobile companies. Zong was declared successful of getting the licenses for 10 MHz spectrum in 2100 MHz radio frequency band in the auction conducted by the state-owned Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).

Zong has also got 10 MHs segment in 1800 MHz frequency. The company bid a total of 516 million U.S. dollars for the 3G and 4G spectrum licenses.

Besides Zong, Russian-owned Mobilink, Norway's Telenor, and Ufone -- a company jointly owned by the Pakistan government and the United Arab Emirates' Etisalat also won the 3G licenses.

Mobilink has got 10 MHz segment in 2100 MHz frequency band. Ufone and Telenor got 5 MHz segments in 2100 MHz frequency. One 10 MHz segment in 1800 MHz band would be sold separately.

Warid Telecom Pakistan, another company operating in the country, did not show interest in the bidding.

Licenses to successful bidders will be issued for a period of 15 years, the PTA Chairman, Dr Syed Ismail Shah said.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar told the media that the government has one more segment in 1800 MHz band and one license reserved for new entrants, which would fetch additional income.

Officials say the money raised from the auction would help raise GDP growth and would create around nine hundred thousand new jobs in the telecom sector.

The PTA had chosen Simultaneous Multiple Round Ascending (SMRA) mechanism, which was the most preferred auctioning mechanism and widely used in modern day auctions worldwide.

China mobile Zong wins Pakistan's 3G, 4G spectrum - Xinhua | English.news.cn