Unsold Spectrum: Govt urges to complete consultant hiring process within 60 days

Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue, Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, chaired the meeting of the Advisory Committee for the release of unsold spectrum of next generation mobile services (NGMS) on Thursday at the Finance Division.

Minister for Science and Technology, Fawad Chaudhry also participated in the meeting. The Committee was briefed by Chairman PTA and Secretary, Ministry of Information Technology about the latest developments on the sale of available spectrum of next generation mobile services.

The members of Frequency Allocation Board also shared their input on the subject. The Committee was briefed that the process for hiring of the consultant for the sale of available spectrum would be completed within 60 days and report will be prepared and submitted before the Committee accordingly.

It is expected that the initial report will be ready by December 2020.

The process for the sale of spectrum will follow after the hiring of the consultant and tentatively would be completed within this financial year.

Adviser Finance, directed to complete the task of the hiring of the consultant at the earliest. He also stated that the whole process of auction must be transparent and an officer may be designated to apprise the public about the progress regarding sale of spectrum on regular basis.

The whole process would contribute towards strengthening and expanding communications / IT Services across the country, would create more job opportunities, and improve the ease of doing business. The next meeting of the Advisory Committee is expected to take place in December 2020.

Days ago, the government unveiled "Rolling Spectrum Strategy 2020-23," recommending not to put in place a fixed spectrum cap defined in MHz but operator with a higher than 35 percent/40 percent of all mobile spectrum be barred from an impending auction.

The "Rolling Spectrum Strategy 2020-23" released by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) recommended for PTA/Frequency Allocation Board (FAB) not to put in place a fixed spectrum cap defined in MHz. The PTA/FAB can consider using a percentage share of overall mobile spectrum as a guide to decide, if further evaluation needs to be performed.