ISLAMABAD: The meeting of the Spectrum Auction Advisory Committee has unanimously decided to go for auction for 2,100 MHz band in 5,5 MHz bandwidth for 10 years.

The first meeting of the advisory committee presided over by Finance Minister Miftah Ismail Wednesday also decided to go for auction using the current consultant’s report, at net present value.

The meeting of the advisory committee was attended by Minister for Information Technology and Telecom Aminul Haq, Minister of Economic Affairs Division Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Minister for Commerce Syed Naveed Qamar, Minister for Power Khurram Dastgir Khan, Coordinator to the PM on Commerce and Industry Rana Ihsan Afzal, Chairman PTA, and other senior officers attended the meeting.

The committee was briefed about the demand and supply and the recommendations of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) for release of available spectrum for the Next Generation Mobile Services (NGMS) in Pakistan and noted that 4G penetration is increasing in the country which is good for the development of the IT-related infrastructure in the county.

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The government is aiming at improving the mobile broadband services in Pakistan as this sector contributes heavily in the development of the country, the finance minister said.

On July 5, at the request of the Ministry of Information and Technology, the ECC had approved the constitution of an auction advisory committee to be headed by the Finance Minister to oversee spectrum auction(s) for the NGMS in Pakistan.

Later on, the ECC decision was ratified by the Cabinet.

The terms of reference (ToRs) of the committee included: (i) to examine and evaluate the market assessment report, spectrum demand and supply and recommendations of the PTA for the release of available spectrum for the NGMS in Pakistan; (ii) to examine and finalise the policy directive for the federal government for the release of the NGMS spectrum in Pakistan; (iii), to oversee the spectrum auction/release process to be conducted by the PTA.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022