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3 G In Pakistan

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Deadline: Govt still hoping to get over $1.3b from spectrum auction

ISLAMABAD: Despite no new entry in the country’s telecom sector, the government’s hopes of getting over $1.3 billion from the auction of next generation spectrums still remain alive as four existing players will compete for three licences of 3G in bidding on April 23.
As the deadline to submit sealed bids for 3G and 4G spectrums lapsed on Monday evening, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) announced that it received four bids by the closing time, all from existing players.
This has reduced the government’s estimates to $1.3 billion as the licence of 2G kept for a new entrant will not be auctioned. The 2G licence for the new entrant had been priced at $290 million. The federal government had made frantic efforts to convince telecom giants of Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia to come and bid for the new telecom spectrums. However, all such efforts remained unsuccessful.
Still, a ray of hope is expected amid stiff competition among the four existing players for three licences. Warid Telecom chose not to offer, as the company wants to wind up its business and plans to sell its operations.
Four existing Cellular Mobile Operators (CMOs) ie China Mobile, PTML (UFone), Mobilink and Telenor Pakistan submitted their bids while Warid did not participate.
After evaluation of bids, the PTA will announce the names of the qualified bidders on April 17. “As demand exceeds supply, the allocation of the spectrum will happen through an auction process,” the PTA officials said.
 
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Long-awaited 3G, 4G auction draws disappointing bids

ISLAMABAD: A dismal response in this week’s auction for next-generation cellphone spectrum licences means cash-strapped Pakistan will struggle to fund its budget this year, finance and IT ministry officials and telecom industry executives told news agency Reuters.
Pakistan is set to hold long-awaited auctions for 3G and 4G network licences on April 23, a step the government projects will raise $2 billion to boost the country’s foreign reserves.
But officials say there has been scant interest in Monday’s bidding process and estimate Pakistan will raise no more than $850 million.

“The finance minister (Ishaq Dar) is very angry, so much so that he wants to call off the auction if we are so embarrassingly off target,” said an official on his team, who declined to be identified as he is not authorised to speak officially on the matter.
“This has happened because of an over enthusiastic IT ministry which oversold an undercooked plan to its fiscal managers. It looks like heads may roll on this one.”

Pakistan is the only major country in the region that still does not offer 3G services. Its neighbour, war-ravaged Afghanistan, switched to 3G services in 2012.

There are about 132 million mobile phones in use in Pakistan, a country of 180 million people, according to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority.
Pakistan's telecommunications market was deregulated in 2004 and foreign firms such as Etisalat have invested heavily in recent years.

The finance ministry said in February that Pakistan would sell both the 3G and the more advanced 4G LTE spectrum. Selling just 3G licences could raise $2 billion, and bundling them with 4G spectrum could generate between $4 billion and $5 billion, finance minister Ishaq Dar had estimated.
The 3G spectrum auction was expected to raise Pakistan's gross domestic product by $8 billion and indirectly create up to 900,000 new jobs, a government-commissioned study by Plum Consulting said.
But when bidding closed at 4 pm on Monday, only four out of five cellular mobile companies operating in Pakistan had submitted bids and no new companies showed interest, sources privy to the bidding told Reuters.
Telecom companies Mobilink and Zong bid for 10 MHz. Telenor and Ufone both bid for 5 MHz.
Warid Telecom Pakistan, owned by the privately-held conglomerate Abu Dhabi Group, did not submit a bid, said a source in the company. Neither did Turkcell and Saudi Telecom Company, two foreign companies who had earlier shown interest.
“There are four available 3G blocks in 1800 MHz: two 10 MHz and two 5 MHz. The base price for 10 MHz block is $291 Million and 5 MHz is $146 million,” said a finance ministry official present at Monday's bidding.
“The auction is thus expected to go for $863 million, nowhere close to $2 billion.”
Bids for 4G LTE licences were to start at $210 million. No operator has shown any interest.
“It looks like 4G won’t fetch any money,” the finance ministry source said. “The disappointing bids are deepening the budget hole by almost $1.7 billion and are such a big hit the finance minister is ready to postpone the whole auction process.”

Spokesmen in the finance ministry, the IT ministry and telecom companies taking part in the bid said they were not authorised to officially comment on the issue.
The disappointing response will pile further pressure on embattled Information Technology Minister Anusha Rahman, who is overseeing the auction.
She drew criticism last month after appointing her husband to the Board of Directors at Ufone, one of the companies bidding for licences and partly owned by the government. He later resigned.
 
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By Hotel metropole today on Mobilink.
 
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She drew criticism last month after appointing her husband to the Board of Directors at Ufone, one of the companies bidding for licences and partly owned by the government. He later resigned.

Of all this report, the last line take the cake. This is typical Noora style of management. Cronyism and favoring their own people, without merit has brought Pakistan to this low point.
 
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I don't know but in one of the thread previously I read ..they are getting 5G too.....
pata nai kab......


Oh my!
Roll the drums for the post of the month!!!

Ignoring your cheap shots, let me remind you every country has it's fair share of idiots who are put in charge to run certain organisations....you Indians should be accustomed to that, DRDO being the prime example.
 
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Ye Windjammer hamesha hi rota rehta hai kya...? Kabhi kuch to ukhaad nahin paya lagta hai life main....:taz:
Keep crying joker...:cheesy:
 
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Ignoring your cheap shots, let me remind you every country has it's fair share of idiots who are put in charge to run certain organisations....you Indians should be accustomed to that, DRDO being the prime example.
let me tell u this.....
it was ur national who opened a thread on pakistan soon having 5G ......so, better learn before speak....
and abt DRDO....it has some real major contribution in indian defense.....and is trillion time better than any pakistani defense public sector.....
so, u are in no place to be sarcastic on DRDO.......
 
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Ye Windjammer hamesha hi rota rehta hai kya...? Kabhi kuch to ukhaad nahin paya lagta hai life main....:taz:
Keep crying joker...:cheesy:
Abey char anna ki murghi aur bara anna ka masala.....one week hua join kiye aur tu ney tu sab ukar liya......ya pahley koi aur ID thi.

let me tell u this.....
it was ur national who opened a thread on pakistan soon having 5G ......so, better learn before speak....
and abt DRDO....it has some real major contribution in indian defense.....and is trillion time better than any pakistani defense public sector.....
so, u are in no place to be sarcastic on DRDO.......
Stop being some smart Alec .... what's the point of dragging here what some one might have posted elsewhere.....and yea we know everything shines in India.
 
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