This Tuesday, Pakistan Telecommunications Authority(PTA) held a spectrum auction at their headquarters for Wireless Local Loop(WLL) services in Azad Jammu & Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan.
Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd(PTCL) and LinkDotNet Telecom Ltd(LDN) took part in the auction of 3.5GHz spectrum in the TR-I Mirpur region. The auction included representatives from the AJ&K and Gilgit region, Ministry of Information Technology(MoIT), Frequency Allocation Board(FAB) and the telecom industry in general.
The auction took place in a fair and transparent manner via open outcry loud auction method. LDN put up the highest bid at PKR 10 Million for the first lot whereas PTCL matched the bid and took the second lot for the same price. Spectrum will be awarded after the clearance of necessary payments by the bidders.
As per policy directives of AJ&K and Gilgit region, PTA issues advertisement and information memorandum for auction of spectrum on 16th October, 2015. An information session with the prospective bidders was held on 10th November, 2015. Applications along with pre-bid deposits were received till 7th December, 2015 and the qualified bidders were notified on 15th December 2015. An information package containing necessary details of the auction process was also provided to the qualified applicants on 21st December, 2015.
PTCL applied for all of the (Mirpur, Muzaffarabad, Gilgit Baltistan regions) nine lots offered i.e. 1X1900 MHz and 2X3.5 GHz in all three regions of AJ&K and GB while LinkDotNet Telecom Limited applied for one lot of 3.5 GHz in TR-I(Mirpur). PTCL will be offered all the lots applied in TR-II (Muzaffarabad) and TR-III (Gilgit Baltistan) on base price in accordance with the IM while in TR I each 3.5 GHz slot will be given to bid winners at the highest bid price of Rs 10 million each. The 1900 MHz slot in TR I (Mirpur) will be awarded to PTCL at the price of Rs 55.8 million.
Chairman PTA, Dr. Ismail Shah graced the occasion and said that this auction is aimed at the progress of service availability in the AJ&K and Gilgit region. He said it’s a win-win situation for everyone as it will ensure more revenue for government, more business for operators and better services for consumers of these remote regions. This will also bring a positive effect on the economy. He said that PTA has suggested to the government to set up handset assembly plants and data centers in AJ&K and GB as natural climate in these areas is very favourable for such businesses. He congratulated the successful bidders and thanked AJ&K and GB councils, MoIT, FAB and telecom operators for cooperation in the successful auction.