Auction of 3-G licenses: Govt unlikely to realise $800m this year

TAHIR AMIN & ZAHEER ABBASI

ISLAMABAD: The government is no longer expecting to realise an estimated $800 million (around Rs75 billion) from the auction of 3-G licenses before June 30, the end of the fiscal year, informed sources told Business Recorder on Friday.

A top official of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) said that the process of hiring a consultant for auctioning of 3-G licenses had been delayed as the Auction Advisory Committee has yet to agree on a shortlist.

The auction advisory committee comprises Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Minister for Water and Power Syed Naveed Qamar and Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Dr Asim Hussain.

A committee member told this correspondent on the condition of anonymity that the committee was dissatisfied with the entire process as it had raised several questions regarding transparency in the proposed auction.

The source said that the presence of Secretary-General to President Salman Farooqi in the Auction Supervisory Committee (ASC) meeting convened to finalise the auction process surprised some participants.

A member of the committee said after the last committee meeting on April 11 that the committee was not satisfied with the process, as PTA was not mandated to shortlist consulting firms. On the other hand, a PTA official said that the authority had merely apprised the ASC about firms who submitted a request when the PTA invited expressions of interest. He said that the process to hire the consultant was at a preliminary stage and the interested firms had submitted a single-page detailing their curriculum vitae. The official further said that the process had still a long way to go and there was no chance of its completion in the current fiscal year, adding that it might be completed by the middle of the next fiscal year.

Once the process is completed, the successful bidder would have to deposit $31.5 million, 15% earnest money of the total $215 million base price. The remaining amount would materialise in the next fiscal year.

The government failed to complete the process of hiring a consultant despite the fact that Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules were relaxed by the prime minister with respect to hiring of consultant.

A finance ministry official told Business Recorder that the economic team’s reservations regarding the probability of not realising the auction of 3-G licenses had been intimated to the political leadership.