Four telecom companies submit bidding proposal for 3G,4G auction

ISLAMABAD: The deadline for the submission of bidding proposal for the next generation spectrum auction 3G and 4G licences has ended on Monday.

According to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) spokesman, four telecom companies that include China Mobile, U-Fone, Mobilink and Telonor submitted the proposal for bidding while no new mobile operator showed interest in bidding.

Presently there are five companies operating in the market and among them Warid Telecom not showed interest in bidding for the next generation spectrum auction.

Currently there are 6 blocks available with PTA to be auctioned and there are five players in the market. One block is reserved only for the new entrant and no one from the existing telecom company can bid for that but the new entrants can bid for the reserved block and for the other 5 blocks too. 

Sources in the telecom estimated that the government will not be able to obtain $2 billion that it is aiming and the maximum gains it can get will stand at $1.4 billion with minor up and down.

Spokesman said that PTA will announce the names of qualifiers for bidding on April 17.