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Pakistan Still Expects 3G Licenses to Be Awarded This Year
Published on:
Pakistan's Telecommunication Authority (PTA) is pushing ahead with its often delayed 3G license tender and still expects to complete the process by the end of this year, otherwise the government will have a hole in its financial planning.
The regulator has now published a preliminary tender for consultancy services to assist in preparing the formal tender documents.
Initially the regulator was going to run the auction unaided, but the government insisted that they hire an outside advisor -- even though that decision itself added to the delays.
With political opposition to the license auction, the hiring of outside advisors may however help assuage concerns about corruption during the auction process and mitigate any risks of legal challenges afterwards.
Any incumbent mobile networks awarded a 3G license will be able to offer services immediately, although new entrants will not be allowed into the market until March 2013. This is due to an agreement not to offer any new radio spectrum when the government sold a 26% stake in the state-owned Pakistan Telecommunications Company in 2006 to Etisalat.
Tags: [pta] [3g license] [Pakistan]
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