5G spectrum auction: PTCL sets prerequisites for participation

ISLAMABAD: President and Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), Hatem Bamatraf has set prerequisites including extended payment term, reasonable reserve price as well as moving to rupee-based price for participation in 5G spectrum auction, which the government is planning latest by May 2025.

“We will participate in the 5G spectrum auction. It all depends on the conditions of the auction. If the terms or conditions of the auction are, somehow, make sense for us from business point of view then definitely, we would like to be the most innovative company in this market and we will jump into the new technologies as long as it makes [a] business case,” said Bamatraf, while talking to Business Recorder here on Wednesday.

He said that terms and conditions for 5G spectrum auction were yet to be announced, however, some good and favourable terms were expected to make it a success. During their engagement with the Ministry of Information Technology, other government stakeholders as well as the National Economic Research Associates Inc (NERA) – a US-based international consultancy firm hired for the spectrum auction, they have conveyed their concerns and message in clear words, he added.

Talking about the impact of 5G in the country, the CEO said it would help the digitalisation of Pakistan by connecting people with robust purpose-built technology opening up opportunities for industries as well as individuals.

The NERA has also backed telecom operators’ demands, including extended payment term, reasonable reserve price as well as moving to rupee-based price for successful 5G auction in the country.

The NERA warned that high spectrum prices will result in fewer players, and levels of competition will decline, potentially leading to lower levels of innovation, high prices and other poor outcomes for

consumers.

It is critical to emphasise that even from the perspective of net flows to government revenue, it is highly likely that lower spectrum prices will lead to long-term higher government revenues, not lower ones, said MD NERA in a presentation.

Dollar-pegged prices; IMT spectrum prices are tied to the US dollar, and with the devaluation of the Pakistani rupee, the cost for operates has skyrocketed, since the last auction in 2021, where $1 equivalent Rs163, the exchange rates has risen to Rs278, a 70 percent increase solely owing to currency devaluation.

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