Govt to auction broadband spectrum

ISLAMABAD: Government has decided to auction the last available spectrum block of 10 megahertz (MHz) in 1800MHz from the initially allocated spectrum in 2014. 

“This is an opportunity for the telecom companies to enhance their spectrum capacity and provide high quality broadband services as per demand of the growing consumer’s base in the country,” state IT minister Anusha Rehman said in a statement on Monday.

Prime Minister Nawaz has already constituted an advisory committee for the third round of spectrum auction.  During the last three years, the government successfully completed two rounds of next generation spectrum (3G/4G) auction. 

“The telecom industry has witnessed an exponential growth as a result of these auctions,” the statement said. There was a phenomenal increase in the number of subscribers of broadband user in telecom sector. The broadband density is surpassing 27 percent. 

Minister Rehman heads the committee, while special assistants to PM for law, chairman Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, executive director Frequency Allocation Board, Member telecom and secretaries IT, finance and law are its members. 

Member Telecom has also been appointed as committee secretary. The inaugural meeting of this auction advisory Committee was held on Monday.  Rahman said the government is committed to conduct the third round of spectrum auction in most transparent and professional manner, “as were done earlier in 2014 and 2016, respectively.”  

Chairman Ismail Shah of PTA apprised the committee of the consultant’s report on market assessment for the spectrum auction. This advisory committee is mandated to determine the base price of spectrum and proposed a policy directive for the purpose.