PTA hires Consultants for 3G Auction

PTA hires Consultants for 3G Auction

 

Government approved the appointment of consultants for the completion of auction of much-awaited Third Generation (3G) technology by mid-January 2013.

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority had advertised for the need of a 3G consultant, of an international repute, for procurement of 3G license auction in Pakistan.

The government failed two times for selection of consultants. First time, during the tenure of former chairman PTA efforts were made to accomplish auction of 3G without appointment of consultants and second time the ASC rejected offers of all three bidders on the basis of technical and financial bidding. These failures have delayed further delayed the 3G technology in Pakistan

Finally, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has finally appointed consultants of international repute to auction 3G spectrum license with the expectation of earning revenue of $900. This confirmation was announced in a press conference by Farooq Ahmad Awan (PTA Chairman), with support of Dr Abdul Basit Advisor to Prime Minister on Information Technology (IT) and Secretary IT Ministry Amir Tariq Zaman.

The Auction Supervisory Committee (ASC) led by Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh has approved hiring of consultant advisory group comprising of three international experts belonging to Australia, Canada and UK for accomplishing the task of auctioning 3G technology,
[blockquote cite=”Chairman PTA, Farooq Ahmad Awan”] The auction of 3G will ensure one billion dollar investments in infrastructure development and around 30,000 to 40,000 jobs will be created
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Consultants:
The hired Advisory Group will comprise of Spectrum Valuation Advisor, Spectrum Auction Design Advisor, Auctioneer/Auctions Software Advisor and Spectrum Regulatory Policy Advisor. This group has been hired for a period of 3-months.
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• Rob Nicholls, an Australian/British dual nationality holder has been assigned for devising spectrum advisor and regulations. His services have been hired for three month on the basis of 65,000 dollars per month.
• For auction design, the ASC approved selection of Denis Ward with monthly fee payment of 60,000 dollars.
• Martin Sims has been hired for preparation of auction related software and his fee would be standing at 56,660 dollars per month.
• The government would spend $0.545 million on the advisors during these three months on account of salaries.

[/list] The chairman PTA said that the government would allow new operators to come and invest in 3G technology.
The advisor to MoIT said that keeping in view model of Thailand auction for 3G where offered spectrum was more than Pakistan, there should be expectation of receiving around 900 million dollars, adding but it depends upon various factors including size of the market and overall market situation.

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