ISLAMABAD ( BMZ REPORT )
Pakistan raised $903 million in its first auction for 3G mobile phone networks on Wednesday, as well as $210 million for the more advanced 4G spectrum, with four foreign-owned companies emerging as winners from the long-anticipated bidding process.
The four winners of the 3G auction were Russian-owned Mobilink, Chinese-controlled Zong, Norway’s Telenor, and Ufone – a company jointly owned by the Pakistan government and the United Arab Emirates’ Etisalat.
Warid Telecom Pakistan, another company operating in Pakistan, did not make any bids.
Ismail Shah, the PTA head, announced the results to reporters after the auction, which lasted all day.
The total opening price of the four lots of 3G licenses was $885 million while there was an increase of $5.9 million in Lot D and $11.92 million in Lot A at the end of the three round auction.
At the end of the auction’s first round there was no increase in the bid price whereas there was an increase of $5.9 million in the bid price of Lot D at the end of the second round. Moreover, an increase of $5.9 million and $5.92 million in the bid price of Lot A had taken place by the end of the third and fourth rounds of the auction process.
Ismail Shah had earlier told Dawn that the first round of the license auction process had concluded with the four competing companies agreeing to the base price.
He later said that the bidding companies had three rounds of waiver available at their disposable which had been utilised in the previous three rounds (five – seven).
The addition of another lot of the 3G spectrum licenses was made in accordance to a stipulation in the information memorandum for the spectrum auction.
The PTA committee is authorised to increase the bid price by one to three per cent per round.
The base price for a 3G licence is $295 million and for a 4G licence it’s $210m.
Mobile phone companies can bid for one 10MHz bandwidth licence or the entire spectrum, comprising three 10MHz licences (a total bandwidth of 30MHz).