Pakistan to Issue 3G Licenses by Year End

ISLAMABAD -(Dow Jones)- Pakistan's five existing mobile phone companies will bid for three 3G licenses, which will be issued by the government in the last quarter of 2008, the chairman of the country's telecom regulatory authority said Friday.

"We will issue three 3G licenses to the already operational cell phone companies in the country for which bidding is expected during September to December this year. Almost all of these companies working in the country are have shown an interest in the new license," said Shehzada Alam Malik of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority.

The telecommunication sector is expected to attract $2 billion annual investment in the next three years, while the number of cell phone users are likely to rise to 100 million by 2010 from the current 76 million customers, he said.

-By Islamabad Bureau, Dow Jones Newswires; 91-11-41207627; chandrasekhar.jayachandran@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

Posted to the site on 18th January 2008