Round three of 3G spectrum licenses auction concludes
ISLAMABAD: The third round of auction
process for 3G licenses concluded at $896.8 million on Wednesday with
an increase of $11.8 million increase in the bids for 3G licenses,
DawnNews reported.
The total opening price of the four
lots 3G license was $885 million with an increase of $5.9 million in Lot
D and Lot A in the second and third rounds respectively.
The second round had begun with a two per cent increase in the bid price.
The
third round of auction , which is currently underway, is considered as
significant and may witness either the elimination or a win by the
competing companies.
Chairman Pakistan Telecommunication Authority
(PTA) Dr Syed Ismail Shah told Dawn that the first round of the license
auction process had concluded with the four competing companies
agreeing to the base price of $1.3 billion.
Initially, three 10
MHz 3G licences and two 10 MHz 4G licences were announced for auction
but currently the auction for four lots of the 3G spectrum are underway.
The
addition of another lot of the 3G spectrum license was made in
accordance to a stipulation in the information memorandum for the
spectrum auction.
The auction for the 4G licenses would take place after the completion of the 3G licenses.
The
second and third rounds of the auction for 3G licenses, began with a
two per cent addition to the opening price from the previous rounds.
A view of the PTA website displaying the round-wise results of the auction process.
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The PTA committee is authorised to increase the opening price of the bids by one to three per cent per round.
There are a total of eight rounds of the auction process.
The base price for a 3G licence is $295 million and for a 4G licence it’s $210m.
Mobile
phone companies can bid for one 10MHz bandwidth licence or the entire
spectrum, comprising three 10MHz licences (a total bandwidth of 30MHz).
The four companies participating in the bidding had earlier logged on to the software of the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) for the process.
According
to PTA officials, the four bidders were assigned different colours, and
each bidder would bid through the colour allotted to them instead of
through their respective names.
The PTA expects to receive more than $1.3 billion from the auction.
The introduction of 3G and 4G spectrum in the telecom sector is expected to revolutionise the way subscribers stay connected.
4G
provides even faster speeds and ultra-broadband services, putting
data-intensive services such as online gaming, high definition mobile TV
and video conferencing within the reach of the average consumer.
Also read: 3G, 4G may triple internet cost for users
For consumers, the auction will not immediately translate into the advent of 3G connectivity
on their mobile phones. In fact, the timeframe agreed upon between the
PTA and mobile operators envisions 3G roll out within six months of the
auction.
In the first phase, services will be available in
Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta and later on in other
cities from each of the four provinces.
The second phase, which
will start a year and a half after the auction, envisions the expansion
of 3G services to about 80 more cities. In the third phase, which will
begin about four years from now, 90 per cent of all tehsil headquarters
will have access to 3G services.
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