Payment of 15pc of DTH licence bid amount may violate SC order, Pemra told

ISLAMABAD: One of three top bidders of DTH licence bidding held by Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra), Shahzad Sky Pvt Ltd has asked the regulator to defer the payment of 15 percent of successful bid amount of Rs4.89 billion as any further payment may be a violation of the Supreme Court order.

Shahzad Sky has reminded Pemra that the Supreme Court had allowed proceedings only till the bidding day and any further process or payments may result in litigation for both Pemra and Shahzad Sky.

As per Pemra bidding documents, the successful bidder has to deposit 15 percent of the bid amount within 10 calendar days of bidding. Shahzad Sky letter to Pemra refers to decision of the Supreme Court on bidding day i.e. November 23 against the order of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on November 22 to stop DTH bidding.

Shahzad Sky reminded Pemra that the Supreme Court had ordered that bidders will have no rights or interest from bids made and any award or contract will be subject to final decision of the LHC.

The petition before LHC is against exclusion of broadcasters from DTH bidding, management control to foreign entities against section 25 of Pemra law and pre-qualification of non-media companies without experience of broadcast sector.

The bids are considered extremely excessive and unrealistic by industry experts and are more than DTH project price estimated by Pemra consultant which is highly unusual. The highest bid amount of nearly Rs5 billion is 2,000 percent more than Pemra base price for DTH licence.

The successful bidder seems conscious of committing further funds to Pemra in light of legal challenges involved and delay it entails.