Advisory committee prepares recommendations for spectrum auction

ISLAMABAD, Mar 17 (APP): An Advisory Committee for auction of spectrum held its 5th meeting here on Friday to finalize recommendations for base price of the spectrum and other provisions of the policy directive for the approval of the Cabinet.
The committee was constituted by the Prime Minister on 1st February 2017 to formulate policy directive for the auction of spectrum in 1800 MHz band. The spectrum will be utilized for Next Generation Mobile Services (4G).
The demand for data grew exponentially since the auction of spectrum Next Generation Mobile Services in 2014.
The mobile broadband penetration has continued its pace since then and now there are over 38 million 3G/4G users in Pakistan.
Currently, planned spectrum auction will cater for escalating demand of mobile broadband services.
The committee held series of meetings since 1st February 2017.
During successive meetings various technical, commercial and market parameters were discussed to determine the base price.
The policy directive after the approval of the Cabinet will be issued to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to carry out necessary procedure to hold a transparent spectrum auction.
It is expected that auction will take place in end May or early June 2017. 2x 10 MHz paired spectrum in 1800 MHz band will be auctioned.
It is worthy to mention that the upcoming spectrum auction will be third auction since 2014 under the leadership of the Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif.