LAHORE: Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Chairman Major General (retd) Amir Azeem Bajwa said successful purchase of Next Generation Mobile Services (NGMS) by the smallest telecom proved that the government’s policy for spectrum auction worked.
In an interview with The News, he said that the previous quality of service and rollout obligations were not enough to meet rising demand of consumers for quality voice and data services in the backdrop of flourishing e-Commerce, startups, and fintech companies in the country.
Covid-19 pandemic exposed it further with growing use of data during the lockdowns. Thus, the Cellular Mobile Operators (CMOs) were asking for more spectrum to enhance the quality of services for the consumers.
“The requirements are enhanced as compared to the previous regime. The data rate thresholds were 256kbps and 2mbps for 3G and 4G respectively in the year 2014, 2016 and 2017. Now it has been increased to 1 Mbps (from 256 kbps) for 3G and 4mbps (from 2mbps) for 4G to be phased in two years’ time from the effective date,” Bajwa said.
The new 4G rollout would help operators improve their service quality as per PTA’s new prescribed obligation to meet the huge rise in data traffic.
Further, faster internet along with other infrastructure was crucial to achieve the prime minister’s Vision of Digital Pakistan. The PTA has now changed the regulations of the QoS as well, while the renewal of the licenses would also be made accordingly to the new regulations and policy.
Bajwa said the purpose of this spectrum auction was to improve the quality of mobile broadband services available to Pakistani consumers. He pointed out that though mobile broadband networks were mature and widely available in the country, more spectrum was needed to improve customer experience.
“The PTA provided reasonable rationalisation for achieving QoS and rollout obligations to mobile operators. Ufone - with least footprint agreed to the same QoS and rollout obligations as mentioned above, means that the quality of service and roll out obligations listed in the terms and conditions are completely fair and achievable,” the PTA chairman added.
All CMOs were provided with equal, transparent and fair opportunity to bid in the spectrum auction, and the operator that needed spectrum has bought it. Lack of participation by other networks was their business decision, Bajwa said, adding that Ufone successfully got a major chunk of the spectrum, which would definitely improve their 4G rollout and customer experience.
“Other CMOs should be clear that the PTA will not compromise the QoS anymore along with coverage,” he said, sharing that some customers of different CMOs complained about the poor quality of services in many parts of Pakistan, including Lahore.
“PTA has closely been monitoring the consumers’ issues and making regulation accordingly. Protection of consumers and government interest are the top priority.”
The total written demand by CMOs was less than what has been sold. “PTA received a total spectrum demand from existing CMOs of 6.4 MHz, whereas spectrum sold in this auction is 9 MHz. In this auction, PTA successfully sold more spectrum than demand received in 2020,” the chairman added.
With the increasing engagement of diversified content on social media and various streaming apps and websites, the consumption of mobile data by an average Pakistani grew by staggering 414 percent from 2016 to 2018.
Referring to the PTA study on spectrum management, Bajwa pointed out that mobile data traffic grew 165 percent in 2017 to 69 Petabytes (PB) and 86 percent in 2018 to 128PB in Pakistan.
Total users of mobile internet surged to over 84 million by end of August 2020. The growth is tremendous and quality infrastructure is needed to maintain the growth. Similarly, mobile data traffic in Pakistan increased to 1.75GB/month/user in June 2018 as compared to 0.34GB/month/user in September 2016. Thus, CMOs required more spectrum.
Bajwa mentioned that the current spectrum auction policy was devised for the next three years. However, he made it clear that the price of this auction would not be fixed for the next auction. It would be decided in accordance with the prevailing factors like rupee-dollar parity, inflation rate, etc. “But I assure that the next auction of spectrum would not be delayed like this.” This auction was made after 5 years.
Bajwa pointed out that the policy of the Authority was to force the CMOs towards the best QoS and user experiences. Ufone’s purchase of the auction also fell in line with PTA’s new policy and regulations, he said.
Now, the other operators that held off their need for sufficient spectrum need to align with the new regulations of QoS. He believed that other operators, who missed this auction “will require more spectrum in near future” to fulfil the PTA QoS regulations.
Regarding the question raises on spectrum auction, Bajwa said no one questioned the transparency of the process. However, if someone has concerns on the price fixed by the government of Pakistan, “I made it clear that spectrum is a scare resource and cannot be give in peanuts”, he added.