3-G mobile phone licensing to start by June: PTA Chief

Islamabad—Pakistan Tele-communication Authority (PTA) would start 3-G mobile phone licensing process this year, hoping these modern services to be available in the country by 2009. “For this purpose auction of the spectrum would be carried out this year and licenses would be awarded through competitive bidding,” said Chairman PTA, Major General (Retd) Shahzada Alam Malik.
Addressing a press conference here Friday, he said the Authority plans to issue three such licenses to the existing operators. “The 3rd-Generation mobile services will enable consumers to use Internet with high speed, make video calls and other value added data services,” he added.
Pakistan has now 77 million mobile phone subscribers, 2.1 million Wireless Local Loop (WLL) and 4.7 million fixed line consumers, he said and added at present, over 90% population has the coverage of telecom services. Enumerating the developments in telecom sector, he said the unprecedented growth in this area has impacted the overall economy of the country in many direct and indirect ways.
Renowned international telecom operators and investors have acquired stakes in Pakistan telecom sector, showing utmost confidence in the telecom policies and regulatory environments of the country, he added.
Regarding licensing in AJK, Chairman PTA said five mobile companies were awarded licenses for AJK & NAs and they had started their services in these areas. He said PTA deposited Rs.1.2 billion with the AJK Council and NAs Secretariat on account of Initial License Fee (ILF) collected from mobile phone operators.
He said on similar lines PTA has launched the second phase of deregulation of fixed line services in the area in September 2007. It has received an overwhelming response with a total of 81 application for various licenses including Long Distance International (LDI), FLL, WLL and others.