Broadband services: Govt to release/auction additional frequency spectrum

ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to release /auction additional available frequency spectrum for improvement of mobile broadband services and network expansion in the country, which is expected to generate billions of non-tax revenue in the current fiscal year.

This was confirmed by Secretary Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui, while talking to Business Recorder, here on Thursday.

Siddiqui said that the government had made available ample spectrum and decided to go for auction.

However, he said that revenue generation would be in billions as there was huge appetite in the market but the benchmark was to be set by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) through international consultant.

The ministry had earlier approached Prime Minister Imran Khan for seeking his approval to constitute Advisory Committee for the auction.

However, PM Khan directed the ministry to approach the Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet, Siddiqui confirmed.

The ministry is now in process to move a summary to the ECC and seek its approval for the advisory committee, said the secretary, adding that the IT Ministry has already directed the PTA to hire consultant who would set different benchmarks for the spectrum auction.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020