Pakistan Moves Closer to 5G Rollout After Hiring Global Consultant

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has awarded a letter of intent to National Economic Research Associates (NERA) to oversee the 5G spectrum auction. The auction is expected to be completed by April 2025, boosting the Next Generation Mobile Broadband Services in Pakistan.

NERA is a top US-based consultancy which specializes in telecom and government sector modeling. The company won the contract with the lowest financial bid of $0.750 million. NERA was tied in the technical evaluation with Aetha Consulting Limited company, however, the former secured the deal with its competitive bid. Other companies that qualified for the technical round included Detecon Consulting FZ-LLC, Frontier Economics Limited, and KomKonsult (Private) Limited, taking the tally to five.

NERA’s role encompasses advising on policy reforms to encourage infrastructure investment and broadband growth. It will compare Pakistan’s current spectrum assignments with regional practices, to find out gaps and suggesting phased auctions for paired and unpaired spectrum bands.

The firm will also decide spectrum prices in USD and PKR, using demand and supply models to forecast prices for the upcoming three years. NERA will also offer innovative payment options and prepare a report on spectrum valuation, including base prices.

This development marks a significant stride towards expanding mobile broadband and accelerating 5G deployment in Pakistan.

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