ISLAMABAD: The government is studying the market mood and investors’ appetite for the next series of spectrum technology licences prior to determine their reasonable price tags, officials said on Tuesday.
The officials, privy to the development, said the auction supervisory committee of the ministry of information technology is analysing the market demand in order to fix benchmark pricing of the remaining unsold spectrum during the current fiscal year.
In 2014, the government managed to fetch more than one billion dollars from the auction of third and fourth generation (3G/4G) mobile phone networks to telecom operators in Pakistan. In the mid of the last year, it awarded another 4G spectrum licence to Norwegian mobile service provider Telenor and raised $395 million.
An industry official said the government can only be able to arouse interest for the next spectrum if it sets reasonable prices. The Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, after assuming the power, constituted the auction supervisory committee (ASC), headed by minister of state for information technology Anusha Rehman. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar had requested the prime minister to constitute ASC under the chairpersonship of IT minister.
Officials hoped that the information technology ministry and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) will be able to complete the transaction of remaining spectrums till June-end this year.
Syed Ismail Shah, chairman of PTA, at a meeting on auction of unsold next generation mobile services spectrum on Tuesday, apprised the advisory committee of different recommendations and suggestions mentioned in a consultant report as well as internal PTA analysis on global price benchmark.
IT minister Anusha Rehman, secretary IT Rizwan Bashir Khan and other officials attended the meeting. The committee decided to conduct another comparative study of prices in local and regional markets. Therefore, a sub-committee, headed by chairman PTA, was constituted. The sub-committee will analyze the regional and global markets, which have gone through spectrum auction in recent past and on the basis of their comparative study, it will submit its report to the main spectrum advisory committee for consideration and further necessary action.
Rehman stressed the need for early completion of comparative analysis, “so that process of spectrum auction could be completed.” “It is the utmost priority of the government to ensure that the upcoming spectrum auction is done in a transparent, competitive and an efficient manner as usual, to achieve optimum benefits for Pakistanis, comprising of some 60 percent thriving youth population,” she said in a statement.
“While considering the rapidly growing broadband penetration in Pakistan, the upcoming spectrum auction has become more attractive for mobile broadband market and telecom operators.”
Minister IT reiterated the resolve of the government to focus on accelerated digitisation through proliferation of broadband. “Auction of frequency spectrum will infuse more energy and give a new boost to the telecom activities.”