Description:

The government approved the formation of the Auction Advisory Council on Tuesday to oversee spectrum auctions for Pakistan"s next-generation mobile services (NGMS).

Finance Minister Miftah Ismail presided over the meeting of the Cabinet"s Economic Coordination Committee (ECC), which accepted the brief given by the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT) on the formation of the Auction Advisory Committee.

The federal minister of finance and revenue will serve as chair of the committee. Federal Minister for Information and Telecommunication, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Division, Federal Minister for Power, Federal Minister for Commerce, Secretary for Finance, Secretary for MoITT, Secretary for Law & Justice Division, Chairman of the PTA, Executive Director of the Frequency Allocation Board (FAB), representative of GHQ, Director-General Tech—ISI, Member Legal MolTT, and Member Telecom MolTT (Committee Secretary).

According to the MoITT"s motion for a summary, Pakistan held spectrum auctions for The next Generation Mobile Services (NGMS) in 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2021 in accordance with Policy Directives issued by the federal government. As a result, the cellular mobile carriers were awarded the paired spectrum, which included 30 MHz in the 1900/2100 MHz band, 29 MHz in the 1800 MHz band, and 10 MHz in the 850 MHz band.

An advisory committee on the "Release of Next Generation Of mobile Services (NGMS) Spectrum in Pakistan for Advancement of Mobile Broadband Services amid COV1D-19" was established by the Federal Government in October 2020. The committee was later revised in March 2021 to include representatives from AJ&K and GB.

Following approval of the Economic Coordination Committee"s (ECC) resolution to accept the Committee"s policy recommendations by the federal cabinet, the Ministry of IT & Telecommunication published the Policy Directive on August 4, 2021. With the aid of an internationally renowned consultant, Frontier Economics, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) ultimately concluded the spectrum auction process in September 2021. While there was no competition for the allotted spectrum in the 2100 MHz band, Pak Telecom Mobile Limited (PTML/Ufone) received 29 MHz in the 1800 MHz band for 15 years.

The federal government may issue a Policy Directive to conduct a spectrum auction under section 8(2) of the Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-organization) Act 1996 to offer the accessible frequency bands to all interested new and existing operators in an open, transparent, and competitive manner for the enhancement of capacity and improved quality of service.

According to section 8(2) of the Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-organization) Act 1996, the federal government may issue a Policy Directive to hold a spectrum auction in order to make the accessible frequency bands available to all interested new and existing operators in a fair and competitive manner in order to increase capacity and improve service quality.

to review and assess PTA"s recommendations for the release of the available bandwidth for Next Generation Mobile Services (NGMS) in Pakistan, as well as the market analysis report, spectrum demand and supply.

to review and finalise the Federal Government"s Policy Directives for the transfer of the NGMS spectrum in Pakistan.
to supervise the PTA"s planned spectrum auction/release procedure.