Intro:
The convergence of internet and mobile
telephony has created a rich brew of content and services that benefits more
people, in more places than ever before. Due to the unavailability of 3G/4G
services in Pakistan till now, consumers have been deprived of these offerings.
To bring individuals, information and mobile broadband services closer together
quickly and conveniently, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) is in the
process of auctioning spectrum for Next Generation Mobile Services (NGMS).
The process was initiated when the Government
of Pakistan issued a policy directive on Spectrum Auction for Next Generation
Mobile Services.
PTA started the process for hiring reputed
international consultants to design and manage the auction process. After
meeting all the procedural requirements and PPRA Rules, ‘Value Partners
Management Consulting Limited’ was selected on 23rd November 2013 from among
five shortlisted applicants. The contract with the consultants was signed on
19th December 2013. PTA has ensured that entire process from hiring the
consultants to auction design and implementation is transparent, efficient and
according to the very best international practices. To this end, PTA has held
detailed consultations with all stakeholders during the entire process to ensure
that everyone is onboard for this important event.
Spectrum Auction Process
PTA published the final Information Memorandum,
developed together with Value Partners, on 17th March 2014. A total of 50 MHz is
being offered as part of the auction, where 30 MHz has been offered in the 2100
band and 20 MHz has been offered in the 1800 band. The auction is designed in
two stages a) The Sealed Bid Stage for demand exploration b) The final auction
on April 23rd , provided demand received is greater than supply.
Based on the received sealed bid on 14th
April 2014, it is now clear that received demand is greater than supply.
Therefore, the final auction will be conducted on 23rd April 2014 as planned.
For the auction, PTA has chosen the Simultaneous Multiple Round Ascending (SMRA)
Auction mechanism. SMRA is the most preferred auctioning mechanism and is widely
used in modern day auctions worldwide. It is also preferred over the traditional
open cry out auctioning model as SMRA allows both auctioneer and bidder
flexibility to simultaneously bid on lots of their choice, privacy and time to
make educated decisions during the auction. Some of the recent auctions
conducted in United States, Sweden, Norway, Hong Kong and Canada were all SMRA
based auctions.
SMRA Auction Features